Posted on Fri, Jan. 16, 2004Bush Installs Pickering on Appeals Court
Associated PressWASHINGTON - President Bush installed Charles Pickering on a federal appeals court Friday, bypassing Democrats who had stalled his nomination for more than two years, sources said.
Bush appointed Pickering by a recess appointment which avoids the confirmation process. Such appointments are valid until the next Congress takes office, in this case in January 2005.
Pickering, a federal trial judge who Bush nominated for a seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, has been waiting for a confirmation vote in the Senate.
Democrats have accused him of supporting segregation as a young man, and pushing anti-abortion and anti-voting rights views as a state lawmaker.
They also have said they wouldn't be able to trust Pickering to keep his conservative opinions out of his work on the federal appeals court.