Washington ? Less than three weeks after Mississippi Republican Sen. Trent Lott was forced to resign from his leadership post for praising a segregationist presidential candidate, President Bush renominated a federal judge whose record angers national civil rights leaders.

Critics say Bush’s move is a slap to black voters, whom the Republican Party has been courting.

Some black Republicans, however, argue the two situations shouldn’t be linked. While they say Lott’s comments might have dampened efforts to recruit blacks, the nomination of Mississippi Judge Charles Pickering to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will have little impact on that mission.

“It’s a poor attempt to link the two, and I don’t think it holds water,” said Michael Brady, chairman of a black Republican group in West Palm Beach, Fla. “They’re just trying to paint the party as racist and that’s not true.”

Hoping to repair the damage of Lott’s comments, Republicans have bolstered their earlier efforts to reach out to blacks. Today in Washington, D.C., a group of black Republicans are meeting with Marc Racicot, chairman of the Republican National Committee, to discuss the party’s agenda.

A week later, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee will be a guest at the Rev. Martin Luther King awards dinner sponsored by the Congress of Racial Equality, a civil rights group based in New York. At the end of January, some black Republicans also plan to meet with House Republican leaders.

“We’re serious,” said Armstrong Williams, a black Republican and nationally syndicated columnist. “We need to earn back that trust.”

Traditionally, more blacks vote Democratic. But Republicans hope to sway younger blacks, who surveys show are not loyal Democrats.