Rejection of Black Judicial Nominee at Issue in Missouri Senate Race
Nearly a year after the Senate rejected a state Supreme Court judge’s nomination to a federal judgeship, the decision is reverberating in Missouri’s Senate race.
Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan told a Missouri Bar Assn. forum on diversity that Judge Ronnie White was “one of my proudest appointments.” Carnahan appointed him to the state Supreme Court in 1995, making him the court’s first black judge.
Carnahan’s general election opponent, incumbent Republican Sen. John Ashcroft, led the fight against White’s nomination. Carnahan did not address the controversy over White’s federal nomination, but it came up because White himself said Thursday that the rejection will have a “chilling effect” on the desire of young blacks to enter the judiciary.
Another panelist at the forum, Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer, said he believes race was an issue, adding: “I hope the citizens of Missouri will remember it when it comes time to vote for U.S. Senate.”
Told about the comments in St. Louis, David James, an Ashcroft campaign spokesman, said: “The race-baiting by Mel Carnahan has begun.”
“Mel Carnahan’s liberal judge wasn’t confirmed because law enforcement officers across Missouri opposed his record of overturning death penalty cases on legal technicalities,” James said.
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