Judges: Let’s See the ‘New’ Ashcroft

John Ashcroft indicated he has no problem with the appointment of Judge Roger L. Gregory to a permanent seat on the federal appeals court, according to one of a number of black lawmakers who met with the attorney general Wednesday. Now let’s see Ashcroft demonstrate he means it.

Gregory is among several worthy African Americans whose nominations to the federal bench were stonewalled or savaged in the Senate during the Clinton administration. Ronnie White of Missouri, Ashcroft’s home state, is another.

A respected Virginia lawyer, Gregory was tapped for a seat on the U.S. 4th Circuit Court. The 4th Circuit, which oversees federal cases in five Southern states, has had the only all-white appeals bench in the nation, yet it represents the largest African American population of any circuit. It is also a famously conservative court whose members apparently had to pass muster with conservative North Carolina Sen. Jesse Helms or find their nominations going nowhere.

Gregory is one of four Clinton nominees to this court, all moderate lawyers or judges. None got so much as a hearing in the Senate. Finally, in January, taking advantage of a congressional recess, Clinton named Gregory through a recess appointment to one of the circuit’s five vacancies. Unless the Senate confirms him to the permanent seat to which Clinton also renominated him, the judge will serve only one year. In addition, Clinton renominated James A. Wynn Jr., another African American moderate whose nomination the Senate stonewalled.

White, one of the few who did get a hearing, faced even more shameful treatment. The Missouri Supreme Court justice, up for a seat on the federal bench, was subjected to humiliating and baseless charges--led by Missouri’s then-Sen. Ashcroft--that he is “pro-criminal.” The Senate rejected his nomination in 1999, the first district court nomination killed on the Senate floor in nearly 50 years.

In his new post as the nation’s top lawyer, Ashcroft has President Bush’s ear on the subject of judicial nominations. Ashcroft can start to repair the damage he did while in the Senate by supporting the confirmations of Roger Gregory and James Wynn and by asking Bush to renominate Ronnie White.