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Oppose Judicial Nominees Pickering, Saad and Bea
Action Needed:
On Thursday, Sept. 25, the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to once again consider the nomination of ultraconservative Mississippi Judge Charles Pickering to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. The Senate Judiciary Committee already rejected Pickering's nomination in March 2002, but George W. Bush ignored the vote and renominated Pickering only hours after Republicans took control of the Senate in Jan. 2003.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will also consider the nomination of Henry Saad for the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and Carlos Bea for the Ninth Circuit. Both nominees are ultraconservative judges with a history of hostility toward women's issues.
Please use this link to contact the Senators on the Judiciary Committee and urge them to oppose the judicial nominations of Charles Pickering, Henry Saad and Carlos Bea.
Background:
George W. Bush's judicial nominees, if confirmed, will serve for life. They will be on the bench for decades after Bush leaves office.
A review of Charles Pickering's four decades in public life shows that his career has been notable not for his record as a judge or legal scholar, but for his history as a partisan political activist. Pickering's writings, votes and record show repeated bias against women's rights, civil rights, civil liberties, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex community, and people of color. He includes personal opinions, biblical quotations and other non-legal materials in his judicial opinions and habitually disregards the separation of church and state by using his position to promote religious programs. He has repeatedly issued decisions that were contrary to established law and precedent, demonstrating that he is simply unwilling to apply the law of the land when it conflicts with his personal opinions or beliefs.
As an outspoken opponent of reproductive rights, Pickering helped the conservative wing of the Republican party add the first-ever anti-reproductive rights plank to the national party platform in 1976. His confirmation to the already very conservative Fifth Circuit (Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi) would provide a direct pathway for anti-Roe cases to move up to the U.S. Supreme Court.
As president of the Mississippi Baptist Convention, Pickering presided over the passage of a resolution calling for legislation to ban abortion except to save the life of a woman. While serving as Mississippi state senator, Pickering voted for a resolution calling for a constitutional convention to propose an amendment to ban abortion. He also voted against state funding for family planning programs.
As a law student, Pickering wrote a law review article suggesting ways to amend the state's law criminalizing interracial marriage to ensure it would be found constitutional. Nine years later, the Mississippi legislature followed Pickering's recommendations and amended the statute. When given the opportunity at recent confirmation hearings to repudiate the article, Pickering chose not to do so.
If confirmed, Judge Pickering will serve on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals—already one of the most conservative courts of appeals in the country. There is no place for Pickering's narrow-mindedness and bigotry on the federal appellate courts.
The Senate Judiciary Committee will also consider the nomination of Henry Saad for the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and Carlos Bea for the Ninth Circuit. Both nominees are ultra-conservative judges who have a history of hostility toward women's issues.
Again, please use this link to contact the Senators on the Judiciary Committee and urge them to oppose the judicial nominations of Charles Pickering, Henry Saad, and Carlos Bea.
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