WASHINGTON (ABP) — One of President Bush's most controversial appeals-court nominees announced Dec. 9 he will retire rather than face another battle over his confirmation.
Judge Charles Pickering announced in Mississippi that he will retire from the federal bench rather than seek a permanent seat on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Senators fought a bitter partisan battle over Pickering's nomination to the 5th Circuit seat. The battle ended when Bush — in a move unprecedented in modern history for federal appeals judges — used a “recess appointment” to put Pickering in office without Congressional approval.
However, the temporary appointment would have to be confirmed by the new Congress when it convenes in January. In recent years, presidents have used recess appointments for other positions, such as cabinet secretaries.
According to published reports, the 67-year-old Pickering said, “I have fought this battle for four years and I think for me, and my family, the time is right to move on.”
He added: “President Bush can now nominate someone younger who will be able to serve longer, which I believe is in the best interest of the court.”
Pickering, a member of First Baptist Church in Laurel, Miss., is a prominent Baptist layman and former two-term president of the Mississippi Baptist Convention. He was a member of the Peace Committee that tried to resolve the controversy in the Southern Baptist Convention in the 1980s.Senate Democrats attempted to filibuster Pickering, as they did with a handful of Bush's other picks for federal judgeships, because of what they said were his extremist views on abortion rights and church-state issues. Pickering's opponents also cited questions about his actions and opinions on civil rights and racism.