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]