In renominating Pickering, President Bush

In renominating Pickering, President Bush is indeed acting more boldly than I expected, Rocket Man. As I said last night, this nomination will be attacked vigorously on the grounds that Pickering, like his sponsor Trent Lott, has not come down firmly enough against instances racism. To the extent that the charge is false (as it appears to be) and to the extent that Judge Pickering is a distinguished jurist (I don’t know enough to opine on this), the President is to be applauded. In general, it is good to see Bush sticking to his guns. But the big test is not the re-nomination of this or that southern judge. The big test will be the Administration’s position in the University of Michigan racial preference cases.