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Reactions to Judge Pickering's Rejected Nomination

Aired March 15, 2002 - 06:23   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Partisan politics still alive and well in the Senate. Many say the defeat of Charles Pickering's appeals court nomination could be a sign of future battles over the Supreme Court.

CNN congressional correspondent Jonathan Karl has the details for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN KARL, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the steps of his courthouse in Mississippi, Judge Pickering blamed his defeat on partisan politics.

JUDGE CHARLES PICKERING (R), MISSISSIPPI: I am extremely disturbed that judicial confirmation has degenerated into such a bitter and mean spirited process. I sincerely hope that no other nominee has to go through what has happened to me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Feingold.

SEN. RUSSELL FEINGOLD (D), WISCONSIN: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Schumer.

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: No.

KARL: Immediately following the party line vote, President Bush put out a sharply worded statement calling the action "unfortunate for democracy and unfortunate for America." But Democrats put the blame on the White House for nominating somebody they believe is out of the mainstream, especially on civil rights.

SCHUMER: There's clearly no mandate from the American people to stock the courts with conservative ideologues. So if the White House persists in sending us nominees who've threatened to throw the courts out of whack with the country, we have no choice but to vote no.

KARL: The rejection won't help what President Bush calls a vacancy crisis in the federal courts. There are now 96 federal vacancies, which means more than 1 out of every 10 federal judgeships is vacant.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R), KENTUCKY: We have a crisis, and both sides can spin the statistics any way they want to, but the fact of the matter is there are more judicial vacancies today than there were when President Bush took office.

SEN. PATRICK LEAHY (D), JUDICIARY CHAIRMAN: We've had a great deal of talk about vacancies during this hearing. Many of those vacancies, nominees were made for them by President Clinton. This committee refused to allow them to come to a vote before the committee or to even come, in many case, even to have a hearing.

KARL: Some Democrats believe rapid approval of Bush's nominees would only reward Republicans for a problem they created by blocking President Clinton's nominees.

SEN. TRENT LOTT (R), MINORITY LEADER: But I think this is a -- this is you know payback. And the problem with payback is where does it ever end? You know we paid you back, you pay us back, now we're going to pay you back. Where does this end? Is this the way for the United States Senate to act? Is this the process that we should use in confirming judges?

KARL: Senator Lott took personally the rejection of Pickering, a fellow Mississippian he asked the president to nominate. Also taking it personally was Charles Pickering Jr., the judge's son, better known as Congressman Chip Pickering. He lobbied hard on his father's behalf.

REP. CHIP PICKERING (R), MISSISSIPPI: I couldn't be prouder of my father. He is an honorable man who has had to go through a dishonorable process. But we do hope that the senators can find some way to bring dignity and decorum back to the senate, to the confirmation process.

KARL (on camera): And this battle may be a foreshadowing of things to come. President Bush has another 50 judicial nominees pending before the Senate, many of them considered by Democrats even more controversial than Judge Pickering.

Jonathan Karl, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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