Constitution once amended frequently

Writing about the recent official notification of the ratification of the 13th Amendment by Mississippi, this column quotes from A Price Too High to note that once the Constitution was frequently amended.

Today we no longer seek actual war to determine the great issues that divide us as a country. In fact, we no longer seek actual amendments to the Constitution. Thirteen states on the left or the right can block any amendment. In "A Price Too High: The Judiciary in Jeopardy," former U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals Justice Charles Pickering of Laurel, Mississippi wrote, "The Constitution is not too sacred to amend, for the Founders created a process to do so. From the time the Constitution was adopted in 1788 until 1971, the Constitution was amended twenty-six times...The twenty-six amendments adopted between 1789 and 1971, constitute an average of one amendment every seven years. From 1933 until 1971, we amended the Constitution seven times, an average of one amendment every five years. No amendment proposed since 1971-during the thirty-five years since the living mystery Constitution became a prevailing legal theory-has been adopted."

Remembering Mike Wallace

Veteran broadcast journalist Mike Wallace played an important role during the fight for the confirmation of Judge Charles W. Pickering, Sr. to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. His interview and segment on 60 Minutes changed a lot of minds and in the words of one journalist, gave Pickering his reputation back.

Pickering recounted the interview and the aftermath in a full chapter in "A Price Too High."

As many mourn the passing of Wallace, here are a few words Pickering used to describe the dean of television interviewers:

Mike Wallace pours color and energy into the room: simultaneously salty and respectful, boisterous and demur, rowdy and relaxed, cosmopolitan and earthy, questioning and knowing - the twinkle in his eyes says there is a wonderful joke in the world all around us, and he is about to deliver the punch line.

Here is a column on the Wallace interview of and segment on Pickering and you can view some pictures of the interview here.

Pickering confronts his critics

Sid Salter writes a great piece in today's Clarion Ledger on Charles Pickering and "A Price Too High."

An excerpt from Salter's piece:

In Pickering's second book, he confronts his Senate and special interest tormentors - particularly U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and the group People For the American Way. He does it merely by letting them be hoisted on the petard of their own contradictory comments in their attempts to smear a white Southerner with the false charge of racism....

In A Price Too High, Pickering recounts the behind-the-scenes political machinations on Capitol Hill - including his defense in public and private by his son, 3rd District U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering, R-Flora. But he also writes about the toll it took on his health and on his family.

One particularly powerful chapter focuses on Judge Pickering's March 28, 2004, interview on the CBS news magazine show 60 Minutes with veteran journalist Mike Wallace.

Wallace, feared by politicians and public officials for his ability to get to the truth regardless of the consequence, gave 16.74 million Americans a chance to get to know Pickering and hear what Mississippians had to say about the charges of racism lodged against him by Schumer, the People for the American Way and other critics.

One of the real stars of the 60 Minutes piece was veteran civil rights activist Charles Evers, the brother of slain NAACP field director Medgar Evers. Charles Evers staunchly defended Pickering in front of a national television audience and told of his efforts to battle the Ku Klux Klan in Jones County in the 1960s.

Evers recently read Pickering's second book.

"Unlike those who attacked him in Washington, D.C., I know Charles Pickering personally; and I know his positive record on race relations, civil rights, and equal protection for all," said Evers. "Washington liberals attempted to portray him as a racist; they sickened me. I've been in the fight. I have the wounds. I know the truth. If you are interested in promoting better race relations, you should read Charles Pickering's story."

(Read Salter's Full Piece Here)

Hattiesburg American - Excerpt

The Hattiesburg American ran this excerpt from A Price Too High in Sunday's paper.

C-SPAN BookTV

This Sunday and Monday, BookTV on C-SPAN2 will discuss "A Price Too High: The Judiciary in Jeopardy."

Sunday, July 8, at 9am
Monday, July 9, at 12am

More details here.

Summer Reading

The Committee for Justice blogs that some liberals may be "engrossed in Al Gore's new book" but "those of you who are more interested in constitutional law and the judicial nominations" should check out three books: A Price Too High by Charles Pickering; Confirmation Wars by Benjamin Wittes; and The Manhandling of the Constitution by Jim Dueholm.

City Journal

Harry Stein writes a great piece in City Journal about "A Price Too High" and Judge Pickering's confirmation fight: "Charles Pickering Gets the Last Word: A maligned civil rights hero, the changing South, and the future of the courts"