Senate Democrats today blocked the confirmation of right-wing judicial nominee Charles Pickering. With a vote of 54 to 43, Senate Republicans were unable to obtain the 60 votes needed to end debate on Pickering’s nomination and force a full Senate vote.
As a state Senator, Pickering supported a constitutional amendment to ban abortion and chaired the subcommittee of the National Republican Party that in 1976 approved a plank calling for an amendment to the US Constitution to make abortion illegal. Pickering has opposed the Equal Rights Amendment and as a district court judge, criticized remedies provided by the Voting Rights Act to redress discrimination against African-American voters. Also as a federal district judge, Pickering attempted to intercede in a case to reduce the sentence of a convicted cross burner.
The Feminist Majority joins a large coalition of women’s, civil, and human rights organizations in opposing Pickering’s nomination.
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