Trent Lott: “I am going to read it because it sort of sums up what a lot of the editorials are saying in these newspapers. It is…”

“I am going to read it because it sort of sums up what a lot of the editorials are saying in these newspapers. It is entitled: ``5th Circuit Fiasco.'' Twelve years ago, the U.S. Senate approved Charles Pickering's nomination for a federal district court judgeship unanimously. This week, it's likely that President Bush's nomination of [Judge] Pickering to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals won't even make it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Democrats on the committee, under pressure from liberal interest groups, oppose Pickering. They've either brought into or allowed the grossly distorted picture of Pickering as an unreconstructed, Old South segregationist to go unchallenged. It doesn't matter that Mississippi Attorney General Mike Moore, a well-known figure in the national Democratic party, led a delegation to Washington last week in support of Pickering and took him letters of support from Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck and former Gov. William Winter, himself a respected leader in national party circles. Madam President, All those people have been leaders in trying to help move our State forward in many ways, including in race relations.”