January 22, 2004
For many months, I have known that the best blog out there is Power Line. They prove it day after day with their detailed posts and insightful comments on a broad array of topics.
Yesterday's defence of Pickering demonstrates why I appreciate (and read) this blog so much. The first argument against Pickering is that one of his former law partners was a "passionate segregationist":
Now, I could respond to this by merely saying that the charge constitutes guilt by association--a defense that always works when applied to a liberal. Or I could point out that I have had any number of law partners with whom I have violently disagreed about politics. But let's take it a step further. Who was Carroll Gartin, and what is the evidence that he was a "passionate segregationist"? Mr. Gartin was the Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi from 1956 to 1960, and again from 1964 until 1966. He was the progressive candidate for Governor of Mississippi in 1959, but lost to the racist Ross Barnett, who was backed by the white Citizens Councils. It was Barnett who defied a federal court order to admit a black student, James Meredith, to the University of Mississippi.
Another proposed reason why Pickering is racist and not suitable for the Federal bench is that "As a state senator, he twice voted to continue funding the [State Sovereignty Commission],” which “was set up to spy on (and intimidate) advocates of civil rights.” A little research exposes why this argument has never had any traction:
Oh, one more thing: the Mississippi Supreme Court sits in the Carroll Gartin Justice Building--a fitting tribute to one of Mississippi's most respected modern political figures.
This allegation requires a brief history lesson. The Sovereignty Commission was established in 1956, and its original purpose was much as described by the “historians.” But by 1964, the Commission “grudgingly and painfully began to transform itself to a pragmatic accommodator to the state’s ‘open’--or more accurately, ‘opened’--society,” and “tried to make Mississippi’s white citizenry realize the importance of a nonviolent accommodation to the reality of the 1960s.”
The final argument against Pickering is the famous cross-burning case where Pickering intervened on behalf of a defendant and reduced his sentence. Those using this specific case to make their point have completely missed the reason why Pickering took this action:
The Sovereignty Commission came to an end in early 1973, when its funding was vetoed by Governor William Waller. And when was Judge Pickering elected to the Mississippi State Senate? 1972.
In fact, Pickering was appalled by the fact that the prosecutors had cut a deal with the ringleader and gone after another defendant who had driven the car for the cross-burner, and who, absent the judge’s protest, would have received a far longer prison term than the principal perpetrator of the deed. As it was, the man who drove the car received a 27-month prison sentence.
If I were stranded on a deserted island, and only had enough cell-phone battery for one blog a day, it would have to be Power Line. (Ok - actually, I would use all the battery time to talk to my wife and kids, but it did have a nice ring, no?)
