60 minutes on Pickering

[still_one]

Seeing the segment on Pickering appointed by bush for the appeals court sure painted him that the Democrats were wrong in rejecting his nomination, at least on the grounds that he was racist. We better get it straight or the Democrats will be no better than the pugs

[dsc]

1. Ask Pickering this

Did he once, even one time, intervene on behalf of a drug defendent who got a similarly harsh sentence? People routinely get dozens of years for having small amounts of crack cocaine. Funny, I don't think he has done that even once.

[still_one]

4. All I am saying is that

the basis that the Democrats went after this guy was because he was a racist, and that is simply false. He helped dismantle the kkk in his community, and the African Americans, and past presidents of the NAACP, were his advocates.

If you are going to go after someone then go after him because he is anti-abortion or some other reason, but do not present him as something he is not.

[Bozvotros]

2. Focussed only on the cross burning

I have always had the impression that the case against Pickering involved lots of issues especially his judicial record with regard to decisions or statements he has made with regard to civil rights, voting rights, abortion rights etc. I never made him out to be a monster for the cross burning case, but that he simply was not the best man for the job and there were lots of judges who deserved the appointment far more. If Bush wants him that badly there must be something that Mike Wallace missed.

[TruthIsAll]

3. The piece was very favorable to Pickering. Based on what I saw,

he is getting a bad rap for lowering a cross burner's sentence from 5 to 2.5 years. Hell, is that the worst thing they have on him?

On the contrary, Miss. blacks appear to like the guy. He sent his kids to an integrated school and fought the Klan.

Seems to me the dems screwed up on this one.

[Sanity]

5. Granted, I agree that the racist comment holds no water

And it only emboldens the other side.

That being said, it is true that he is extremely conservative, so conservative that he is not in the mainstream. That is why he should be opposed.

If we play the race card, the race card will get played right back at us on Janice Rogers Brown. And if even a few blacks buy into that lie, giving Bush over 10% of the vote, our chances in the election are hurt (especially in the South).

[Another Bill C.]

6. On the face of it,

the Democrats picked a very bad case on which to make a stand.

[Snellius]

7. The point is really about judicial activism not racism

Pickering took it upon himself not to apply the law but to make it. Just because two of the three defendants received "disproportionate sentencing" doesn't make the third's crime any less deserving of the punishment prescribed by the law. When it comes to the right to choose, will Pickering take the same disregard for the law onto himself?

60 Minutes report sounded more like that liberal media nonsense of trying to prove, especially after last week's Clarke episode, how fair and balanced they are. They bent over backwards to distort the truth in order to send a peace offering to the right.

[Sulldogg]

8. I'll say what

I said before, I do not support the methods we are using in the senate. People like Rogers-Brown and Owen should not be on the court, but I hate using senate rules to make an end run around the constitution. Because we are doing this, we could potentially never fill a federal judgeship again, unless a party gets the presidency and 60 seats in the senate.

I just don't like it, whatever the motivation.

[crushbush04]

9. What bothers me most

is the casual way the terms racist or racially insensitve are being used. I think the smear campaign against this man is simply disgraceful. I totally disagree with this judges conservative views but to hear Senator Schumer and the NAACP condemn someone they know literally nothing about just makes me sick.

[keopeli]

10. 60min is not on here yet, but

I would suggest doing some of your own research, rather than just accepting 60 minute's.

Here's a quick google search:

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http://www.democrats.us/editorial/neas092903.shtml

Over the last decade as a federal judge, Pickering has criticized the “one-person, one-vote” principle recognized by the Supreme Court, denounced or sought to limit important remedies provided by the Voting Rights Act, and suggested that large deviations from equality in drawing legislative district lines were “relatively minor.” In addition, he has continually demonstrated a propensity to frustrate the efforts of people to obtain access to justice, especially less powerful litigants, such as people raising civil rights or liberties claims. When ruling on employment discrimination claims, Pickering has repeatedly included severe criticisms of civil rights plaintiffs and the practice of using civil rights laws to address discrimination.

As a state senator, Pickering supported “open primary” legislation that was blocked by the Justice Department over concerns about discrimination against black voters. He also co-sponsored a Mississippi Senate resolution calling on Congress to repeal section five of the Voting Rights Act (which provides federal oversight over jurisdictions with a history of discrimination in voting) or to apply it to all states regardless of their discrimination history. This move was widely seen as an effort to gut the Act. In addition, he strongly opposed Roe v. Wade, helping lead the Republican Party to put an anti-choice plank in its platform.

Pickering has also been severely criticized for the steps he took to obtain a more lenient sentence for a defendant in a cross-burning case. Unhappy with what he called sentencing disparities between two defendants who agreed to plea bargains and one who was convicted at trial, Pickering effectively ordered prosecutors to raise the issue with the U.S. attorney general and called a Justice Department official to complain. Independent ethics experts confirmed the impropriety of such conduct and have concluded that Pickering violated both the Code of Conduct for U.S. judges and the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.

Senators have also questioned Pickering about the fact that he asked lawyers, some of whom come before his court, for letters of support for his nomination. He asked that those letters be sent to him and he reviewed “most of them” before forwarding them to the Justice Department. At his last hearing, Pickering failed to recognize the potential for coercion in that kind of request, which legal ethics experts have concluded also violated ethical standards. In addition, Pickering has a troubling record of reversals by the very court of appeals to which he has been nominated.
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All I'm saying is that 60 min is not the difinitive source for information.

Keo

[crushbush04]

11. The point is

he may be a jerk conservative, and thats an entirely different issue, but this guy is certainly not some vile Mississippi racist.

We should not be demonizing people like this.

[Sulldogg]

12. I lost a lot of faith in the NAACP's

positions on the judicial nominees after Leo Terrell quit the NAACP because they pressured him to not support nominee Kuhl

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20030807-112751-9923r.htm

[crushbush04]

13. Dont lose faith...

They are just trying their best to make sure every black person thinks exactly alike.

I thought the best part of the 60 min. piece was when the former NAACP member confronted the current head and asked him several questions about the judge for which he had no answer. Somehow I was'nt it suprised how little he knew about the judge.

The moral of this entire episode is... it is better to challenge someone on issues and substance than it is to resort to kneejerk namecalling and lies. That goes for everybody.

[dsc]

14. It would have been nice if they pointed out that Evers

is a Republican, something they made sure to point out about eacn and every Democrat. I wonder why they left that out.