Tension Rises as Pickering Fight Drags On

As the vote on 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals nominee Charles Pickering Sr. was tabled for a second time on March 7, the partisan tension at the Senate Judiciary Committee expanded from mere sniping to far-fetched proposals to rejigger the nominations process.

And for the first time since last year, the White House brought strong pressure to bear on the process last week, playing a part in a carefully orchestrated effort to make life difficult for Democrats intent on rejecting Pickering.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, took the lead at the hearing where the Pickering vote was scheduled to take place, blaming liberal advocacy groups for a "lynching" of Pickering, a word that carries particular bite when applied to a Mississippi judge accused of racial insensitivity. The word also recalls Clarence Thomas' 1991 reference to his Supreme Court confirmation battle as a "high-tech lynching."