To the editor:

What an abhorrent turn of events.

On a day after feigning support for civil rights by visiting the grave of Martin Luther King Jr., President Bush appoints a judge that worked for a lesser sentence on behalf of a cross-burner.

The judge, Charles Pickering, was twice nominated and twice couldn’t muster support for a full Senate vote. But, no matter, without the advice and consent of the Senate, Bush has decided to rule by executive fiat and install him anyway.

Of nearly 200 judicial appointments Bush has sent to the Senate, six have been denied. Of the nearly 200 judicial appointments sent to the Senate by President Clinton, more than 60 were denied. Bush is showing his true colors: Damn the Constitution, full speed to the right.

Phil Wilke,

Lawrence