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THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 2002

The following are excerpts of President Bush's remarks on the nomination of Charles W. Pickering to the federal bench. Wednesday, March 13, 2002.

Tomorrow the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on the nomination of Charles Pickering to serve on the United States Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. Judge Pickering is a respected and well-qualified nominee who was unanimously confirmed 12 years ago to the District bench. His nomination deserves a full vote, a vote in a full Senate. I strongly urge his confirmation.

While tomorrow's vote is about one man, a much larger principle is also at stake. Under our Constitution, the President has the right and responsibility to nominate qualified judges, and the Legislative Branch has the responsibility to vote on them in a fair and timely manner. This process determines the quality of justice in America, and it demands that both the President and Senate act with care and integrity, with wisdom and deep respect for the Constitution.

Unfortunately, we are seeing a disturbing pattern, where too often judicial confirmations are being turned into ideological battles that delay justice and hurt our democracy. We now face a situation in which a handful of United States senators on one committee have made it clear that they will block nominees, even highly-qualified, well-respected nominees, who do not share the senators' view of the bench, of the federal courts. They seek to undermine the nominations of candidates who agree with my philosophy that judges should interpret the law, not try to make law from the bench.

And because these senators fear the outcome of a fair vote in the full Senate, they're using tactics of delay. As a result, America is facing a vacancy crisis in the federal judiciary. Working with both Republicans and Democrats, I have nominated 92 highly-qualified, highly-respected individuals to serve as federal judges. These are men and women who will respect and follow the law. Yet the Senate has confirmed only 40 of these 92 nominees, and only 7 of the 29 nominees to the circuit courts, the courts of last resort in a vast majority of cases.

This is unacceptable. It is a bad record for the Senate. The Senate has an obligation to provide fair hearings and prompt votes to all nominees, no matter who controls the Senate or who controls the White House. By failing to allow full Senate votes on judicial nominees, a few senators are standing in the way of justice. This is wrong, and the American people deserve better.

. . .

Pickering has got a very strong record on civil rights. Just ask the people he lives with. I had the honor of meeting the Attorney General of Mississippi, Moore, Attorney General Moore. Fine Democrat, elected statewide in the state of Mississippi. A man who, I suspect, is a man who got elected because he cares deeply about the civil rights of his citizens, came up and sat in the Oval Office and said, Judge Pickering has had a fine record on civil rights and should be confirmed by the U.S. Senate. I hope the senators hear that. I hope they listen to Moore. Or Al Gore's brother-in-law, or the former governor of Mississippi, Winters.

Get the Story:
Vote set on embattled judge (3/14) | Full Remarks of Bush (3/13)