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1/18/01
1:40 p.m. |
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White devoted a good portion of his opening statement to recounting the racial prejudice he suffered as a black child growing up in St. Louis. "This racism only strengthened my determination," he told the committee. "I was not going to let the color of my skin or ignorance or the hatefulness of others hold me back." Although he did not accuse Ashcroft of being a racist, White, by telling his story in racial terms, inevitably cast his 1999 judicial-nomination battle in the same context; in White's account, Ashcroft's opposition seemed like just another act of discrimination the judge was forced to endure. To no one's surprise, White found himself on the receiving end of a love fest from Democrats. More interesting was the mostly hands-off reception he received from Republicans. GOP senators spent the great majority of their time praising White's personal success story. "You can be rightly proud," said Arizona Republican Jon Kyl. "I applaud what you've attained," added Kansas Republican Sam Brownback. "The Senate owes you an apology," said Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Specter, suggesting that busy senators simply didn't have enough time to fully consider White's nomination before voting it down. The only real examination of White's record came from Alabama Republican Jeff Sessions. Sessions questioned White about a death-penalty case in which White voted to overturn a murder and rape conviction based on a statement made by the judge who presided in the case. Before the trial, the judge had left the Democratic party, and in a press release had written, "While minorities need to be represented, I believe the time has come for us to place much more emphasis and concern on the hard-working taxpayers in this country." The statement was not made in connection with the murder case, and there was no allegation of any error or unfairness in the trial. Nevertheless, White voted to overturn the guilty verdict, writing that the judge's statement was "indefensibly racist." "That troubled me," Sessions told White after going through the facts of the case. "You said that actual fairness of the trial was not sufficient" to uphold the verdict. "In my mind," White responded, "his comment created a sense of judicial bias from the outset. He makes these comments, and then he goes into court and says, 'I can be a fair and impartial judge.'" According to White, the fact that the judge actually was fair and impartial in the case was not relevant to the appeal. It was a solid, substantial exchange on issues--precisely the sort of thing one might have expected from White's appearance before the committee. But it was the only such exchange. The rest of the session was devoted to praising White's achievements and denouncing John Ashcroft. "I only wish that every member of the Senate could hear your testimony," Illinois Democrat Richard Durbin told White. In fact, Democrats said, White had suffered an injustice at the hands of the Senate that nearly dwarfed any similar examples in the past. Massachusetts Democrat Teddy Kennedy, who delivered the famous "Robert Bork's America" speech during the bitter Supreme Court nomination fight of the 1980s, declared flatly that the defeat of White's nomination was "the ugliest thing that's happened to any nominee in all my years in the United States Senate." Republicans, who more than a decade later still feel a strong sense of outrage over Kennedy's behavior in the Bork case, sat by silently. |
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hat was quick. The long-awaited
appearance of Ronnie White, the Missouri judge whose failed judicial nomination
is a major issue in attorney general-designate John Ashcroft's confirmation
hearings, finally came Thursday morning. And then it went — almost
before it began. Short as White's appearance was, however, it made one
striking point: If his nomination had another chance to come before the
Senate Judiciary Committee, it would pass with flying colors.
