Charles Pickering returns to Bizarro World
Inverted quote of note:
"Extreme special-interest groups supported my nomination primarily due to their hostility to any nominee with strong convictions on religious tolerance, who personally disagrees with them on abortion, marriage and references to God at public ceremonies and institutions," Judge Pickering wrote in a statement, issued late Wednesday. "These far-right groups cowed Republican leadership into opposing my nomination. In doing so, they pushed those senators out of the American mainstream, some out of their Senate seats, and the Republican Party out of entire regions of the country."
Just as true, no?
Anyway…
A Judge Appointed by Bush After Impasse in Senate Retires
By ADAM LIPTAK
Charles W. Pickering Sr., who was appointed by President Bush to a federal appeals court without Senate approval during a Congressional recess, announced his retirement on Thursday at a ceremony at the federal courthouse in Hattiesburg, Miss.
Judge Pickering, whose nomination to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in New Orleans, was twice blocked by the Senate because of Democratic opposition before President Bush made the recess appointment in January, said he would not seek a new nomination to a permanent position on the court.
"President Bush can now nominate someone younger who will be able to serve longer, which I believe is in the best interest of the court," Judge Pickering said, according to The Associated Press.
Judge Pickering's appointment would have expired in any event when the Senate adjourned Wednesday night, under the Constitutional provision governing recess appointments. He submitted his formal resignation from the court, which hears cases from Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, shortly before the Senate adjourned.
"Extreme special-interest groups opposed my nomination primarily due to their hostility to any nominee with strong religious convictions who personally disagrees with them on abortion, marriage and references to God at public ceremonies and institutions," Judge Pickering wrote in a statement, issued late Wednesday. "These far-left groups cowed Democrat leadership into opposing my nomination. In doing so, they pushed those senators out of the American mainstream, some out of their Senate seats, and the Democratic Party out of entire regions of the country."
