Trent Lott: “One of the criticisms was, well, the Judge was the intermediary in sending some of the letters of support. I am not…”

“One of the criticisms was, well, the Judge was the intermediary in sending some of the letters of support. I am not going to belabor the point, but as a matter of fact, I have the list of who these people were. They were people he had known for 30 years, former college friends, law school friends, people he practiced law with. It was in the aftermath of the anthrax attack here on the Capitol. The only way he could make sure the letters got to the Judiciary Committee in a timely way was to send them himself. The allegation that there was something inappropriate about that is totally baseless, and it is just the type of thing that has been used against him. Another allegation is that when he was a State senator he had some relationship with what was then known as the Sovereignty Commission. When he went into the Senate, I think when he was first sworn in, representatives from that organization said they had some concerns about Klan activity with regard to labor unions down in his home county. He said: Keep me posted. Seldom do they note the fact that he subsequently voted to abolish the Sovereignty Commission; again, a very frivolous charge. To have your name mentioned 30 years later in a report, that they had some happenstance contact with him, certainly should not be disqualifying. From all walks of life in Mississippi, people are very much in support of this nomination. He hasn't just been a lawyer and a judge and family man. He has been involved.…”