Lott to Retaliate for Judge Defeat

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Republican leader Trent Lott on Friday threatened to retaliate against Democrats for defeating the promotion of one of President Bush (news - web sites)'s nominees to a federal appeals court.

"I'm not going to let go of it for a long time," said Lott, upset because the Senate Judiciary Committee (news - web sites) killed the nomination of U.S. District Judge Charles Pickering of Mississippi to the U.S. Appeals Court in New Orleans.

Lott also announced he will block an aide of Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle from getting on the Federal Communication Commission.

Daschle, in response, said that could backfire on Bush's other nominees in the Democratic-controlled Senate. "I would think they would want our cooperation in moving other nominees," the South Dakota Democrat said.

Lott, Pickering's friend of 40 years, called the committee's racially charged proceedings and its 10-9 party-line vote a "slap at Mississippi." The NAACP and other liberal rights groups, a core constituency of the Democrats, strongly disapproved the nomination because they said Pickering supported segregation as a young man and had an ultraconservative voting record as a Mississippi lawmaker.