The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights is the country's oldest, biggest and most diverse civil and human rights group. It has more than 180 member organizations. The group has sent a letter to CBS charging that Mike Wallace's '60 Minutes' interview with Bush recess appointee Charles Pickering was distorted in its coverage of those opposing his nomination:

Far from a balanced piece of journalism, Mr. Wallace's segment unfairly distorted arguments put forth by Pickering's opponents; failed to accurately convey the range of serious concerns that many Americans have with this nomination; and chose to highlight only those aspects of Pickering's record supporting his thesis that opposition to Pickering's confirmation is thin and that the criticism is exaggerated," said Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference, in a letter to Don Hewitt. The Leadership Conference.... and more than 84 national, state and local organizations opposed Pickering's confirmation, saying his record as a district court judge and as a state senator shows his hostility to civil and constitutional rights.

"Most significantly," Henderson said, "the 60 Minutes piece, rather than discussing the arguments of proponents and detractors forthrightly, instead set up a straw-man — the notion that opposition to Pickering is rooted in charges that he is a racist. ... It is not, in fact, any part of the real debate over this confirmation. The real question is whether Pickering's record warrants elevation to the Fifth Circuit."

Since Pickering is a recess appointee, unless confirmed by the Senate, he will have to leave his seat on the 5th Circuit next January. [link via How Appealing.]

In other judiciary news, Senator Tom Daschle has vowed to block all Bush judicial nominees unless he promises not to make any more recess appointments.