Michael Wallace, a former aide to Senator Trent Lott (R-MS) who received a unanimous "not qualified" rating from the ABA upon his nomination to the Fifth CIrcuit, will ask the President to remove his name from consideration on Tuesday. Wallace's nomination was opposed by civil rights advocates and African-American attorneys who questioned his advocacy of a Mississippi redistricting plan which would diminish or eliminate black representation in that state's Congressional delegation, as well as his support of tax-exempt status for Bob Jones University and his efforts to diminish funding for legal aid attorneys. Wallace blamed his decision to withdraw on "the various special interests and their supporters on the [Judiciary] committee . . . ."
While the Senate returned all pending judicial nominations to the President with the end of the 109th Congress' last session, President Bush has historically renominated the vast majority of nominees returned at the end of a legislative session. Should the President continue this practice, the 110th Congress will reconsider several controversial nominees: