NAACP opposes pickering for court appointment

Judge Charles Pickering Sr.

(left), President Bush's nominee for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit (which includes Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas), has met with blistering opposition from civil rights and women's groups.

"Pickering is just not the right man for that job," says NAACP Mississippi State Conference President Eugene Bryant. "Decisions he made when a judge in Laurel [Mississippi] and in the District Court indicate he's not for us."

The NAACP State Conference of Branches submitted two resolutions to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee opposing Pickering, citing "a hostile attitude and a pattern of holding and prolonging cases which allege racial discrimination, civil rights violations or job discrimination by offering deal making opportunities" instead of getting a judicial ruling.

On Feb. 7, in a contentious Judiciary hearing, Pickering was questioned for more than four hours. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who chaired the hearing, said, "This particular seat is as important to us as a Supreme Court seat."

Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott was not so sanguine. Lott said on National Public Radio's Morning Edition that fellow Mississippian Pickering "would be confirmed or else."

President Bush's father first appointed Pickering to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi in 1990. Pickering wrote about 1,100 opinions during his 11 years as a district judge and published fewer than 100. When the Senate Judiciary Committee asked him for the unpublished decisions, Pickering provided about 600 and indicated that the rest were unavailable.

"We let that appointment slip through," says L. A. Warren, chairman of the state conference legal redress committee, "but not again."

In 1993, Pickering published an opinion portraying the "one-person, one-vote" doctrine as "obtrusive." Earlier, as a state senator, he repeatedly voted against measures that would expand electoral opportunities for African Americans after passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

Julian Bond, chairman of the NAACP, agreed that Pickering's record on civil and voting rights makes him unsuited to be a Court of Appeals judge. "The Senate Judicial (sic) committee should reject him. He has supported measures perpetuating voting discrimination against Black voters; he has consistently opposed civil rights; he would deny women control of their bodies; and he would deny ordinary Americans access to the Courts," Bond said in a statement.

Members of the NAACP Mississippi Conference, as well. as others in the Southern region, have voted to officially oppose him.

At press time, the Senate had no plans to vote on Pickering's appointment.

- Phil W. Petrie

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