UNSKEWING THE FEDERAL COURTS

The Senate Judiciary Committee's 10-to-9 rejection of Mississippi Federal Judge Charles Pickering for the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit showed a rare Democratic combativeness. That Senate Democrats might actually apply standards of ethics and judicial temperament--Pickering consorted with segregationists and challenged the Voting Rights Act--drew cries of foul from Republicans. But New York's Charles Schumer shot back: "There's clearly no mandate from the American people to stack the courts with conservative ideologues. So if the White House persists in sending us nominees who threaten to throw the courts out of whack with the country, we have no choice but to vote no." The next test of the Democrats' political fortitude comes with Federal Judge D. Brooks Smith, nominated for the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, whose oft-reversed decisions have paralleled the agenda of the conservative legal and corporate groups that foot the bill for his frequent judicial junkets.

WHERE HAVE YOU GONE, MARY ROBINSON?

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