Bush plans to re-nominate conservative judges
/Those eager to know how President Bush will operate in his second term
got a quick answer last week when the White House unexpectedly
announced that Bush will re-nominate 20 ultra-conservative judges,
including seven whose nomination reached the Senate floor but were
never confirmed. "Efforts to pack the federal courts with right-wing
extremists will continue to be resisted," says Wade Henderson,
executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, a
coalition of more than 180 human and civil rights groups. "This is an
effort to highjack the federal courts by way of appointments." The
White House announcement was a clear signal that Bush's stated efforts
to reach out to those with opposing political views was more rhetoric
than reality. "The Senate has a Constitutional obligation to vote
up or down on a president's judicial nominees, and the president looks
forward to working with the new Senate to ensure a well-functioning and
independent judiciary," the White House statement says. "When the
Senate reconvenes, the President intends to nominate again the
following 20 individuals who did not receive up or down votes in the
President's first term, 16 of whom were nominated more than a year
ago." Ironically, the announcement came two days after Bush held a
long-awaited meeting with outgoing NAACP President and CEO Kweisi
Mfume. According to Mfume, Bush pledged to reach out to African
Americans in particular. However, that's not how his latest action is
being interpreted. "It's so unfortunate. It sends a troubling message
that just a couple of days after meeting with the president of the
NAACP, he would nominate judges as extreme as many on the list," says
Hilary Shelton, director of the NAACP Washington Bureau. [more]
