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a new twist in the battle over the nomination of Charles Pickering
to a place on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, a former top Clinton
Justice Department official — who also happens to be former
Vice President Al Gore's brother-in-law — has given the Senate
Judiciary Committee a strong endorsement of Pickering's character.
The former
official is Frank Hunger, who headed the Justice Department's Civil
Division from 1993 until 1999. Like Pickering, Hunger is a Mississippian,
and the two men have known each other for almost 30 years. Hunger
is the man Pickering called in early 1995 when Pickering, a federal
district judge in southern Mississippi, was trying to decide how
to sentence a man convicted in a cross burning case. Pickering had
become frustrated by the Justice Department's reluctance to answer
questions about sentencing practices for similar crimes and complained
to Hunger, who told him the problem was outside his area of responsibility.
Democratic senator John Edwards, in a harsh interrogation at Pickering's
February 7 confirmation hearing, accused Pickering of violating
judicial ethics by calling Hunger.
In a February
12 letter to committee chairman Patrick Leahy and ranking Republican
Orrin Hatch, Hunger takes issue with those allegations. "I
have little or no recollection of the call," Hunger writes.
"The significance of this to me is had I felt at the time that
there was anything inappropriate or improper about Judge Pickering's
call I would most assuredly remember it today." Hunger says
he has read Pickering's account of the matter and has "no reason
whatsoever to take issue with anything he [Pickering] has said about
the call."
Hunger's letter
continues with an endorsement of Pickering as a judge and a man.
"I have known Judge Pickering for nearly thirty years and have
the utmost respect for him as a fair-minded judge who would never
knowingly do anything improper or unethical," Hunger writes.
"He is a person of great integrity, strong moral character,
courage and compassion who treats all who come before him in a fair
and dignified way." Hunger concludes by saying that Pickering
has been "a distinguished judge and I think it most regrettable
that his nomination has become controversial."
Despite the
lift provided by Hunger's letter, there is increasing pessimism
among Republicans about Pickering's chances. Many were deeply discouraged
on Sunday after the appearance of Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein
on NBC's Meet the Press, in which Feinstein declared her
opposition to Pickering and said every Democrat on the committee
agreed with her. "I believe that there's virtually unanimous
opinion on the Democratic side of the Judiciary Committee that he
will not be confirmed," Feinstein said. "In other words,
he will not be voted out of the Judiciary Committee."
"So all
ten Democrats will oppose him?" host Tim Russert asked.
"I believe
so," Feinstein answered.
From a Republican
perspective, what is even more disturbing than the fate of the Pickering
nomination is the fear that Democrats are making good on threats
to adopt a no-conservatives-allowed policy of evaluating nominations
to the federal bench. "I've looked rather carefully at [Pickering's]
background, and I think you have a person who has very strong right-wing
views, both politically and personally," Feinstein said. "The
question always comes: Can you put those views entirely aside? This
is a lifetime appointment. If you can't be assured that the individual
is really going to put those views aside, what happens is two years
into the term those views creep forward again."
Finally, in
the most disheartening development for Republicans, Feinstein returned
to an argument against President Bush that Democrats have not used
publicly in many months, certainly not since Sept. 11: the contention
that the narrowness of Bush's victory in the 2000 election disqualifies
him from appointing conservatives to the bench. "President
Bush did not have a large mandate," Feinstein said. "There
is no mandate, in my view, to skew the courts to the right. And
so I think you're going to see a Judiciary Committee that's really
going to be looking for mainstream judges, and those judges that
they find outside of the mainstream I do not believe will have Democratic
support."
A committee
vote on Pickering is likely by March 7, but some key Republicans
now believe Pickering's defeat is just a formality. "I still
had hope until Sunday," said one GOP aide after watching Feinstein
on Meet the Press. Now, that hope appears to be gone.
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