You do have complaints about the role the judicial system plays in the war on terrorism, especially when it erodes civil liberties. Can you point to excesses from this administration in its pursuit of national security?

Yes, absolutely. One of the things I have proposed is taking domestic intelligence away from the FBI and setting up a more effective intelligence agency. And if that were done I'd also set up an individual civil rights and civil liberties watchdog to monitor what's happening with that agency. It would require record-keeping of data, whether what they're doing on the Internet or if they're monitoring religious entities like mosques or churches. It would make sure there are no constitutional and no civil liberties violations by this agency.

One of the things going on right now that I think is unacceptable is the way the Bush administration is dealing with those they call enemy combatants. I know my position on this is not popular, but it's my belief that designating someone, an American citizen, an enemy combatant, and putting them in jail, where they do not have access to a lawyer, where they cannot get a hearing, or go before a judge, where they are not given a chance to prove that they did nothing wrong -- it violates everything we believe in America. I think it's just wrong.

Also concerning the courts, President Bush has just renominated Charles Pickering to the United States Court of Appeals, despite -- or perhaps because of -- the fact that when the Senate was controlled by Democrats last year, Pickering's nomination was rejected by the Judiciary Committee, on which you sit. One of the critiques you specifically made of Pickering during his hearing dealt with his actions during a cross-burning case.

Critics have said that you took his actions out of context, however; that Pickering was merely expressing concern that the leader of the cross burners got a lighter sentence than another individual involved. Moreover, Pickering's nomination is supported by the brother of civil rights hero Medgar Evers and Democrat Frank Hunger, who is Al Gore's brother-in-law. What's your response to these criticisms and endorsements of Pickering?

Well, first of all, Frank Hunger is somebody that I have a lot of feeling and personal respect for. He's a great man, and I have a lot of affection for him and I'm sure his views are heartfelt.

But my views about Judge Pickering come from looking at the details of his judicial record, including the case you're asking about. And on a number of occasions he put his own personal feelings and personal views above the law. In the cross-burning case he did a number of things. He put pressure on the lawyers involved, he called the Justice Department, he did a number of things that were not what the law called for. They were, in my view, inconsistent with the obligations of a judge fairly administering the law. So I do not believe he belongs on the circuit court.

You know, I've spent most of my adult life dealing with judges. I know a good judge. I know what a good judge is supposed to do. And what he did on that case is nothing a judge should do.

While we're on the subject of your legal career, you have to know that over the next year your Democratic and Republican opponents will scour your work to see if you represented any bad-guy clients or said anything in court that could hurt you politically. Are there any cases you think they could use against you?

No, not that I know of. In 20 years of being a lawyer, you do a lot of cases, and I don't have a lot of them in my head.

But when I did my Senate campaign I did very vigorous opposition research on me. I went through it as a possible vice presidential candidate, too. The Gore campaign assigned a team of lawyers to just me, and they didn't just review my financial, medical and campaign finance records, but they also reviewed all my cases.

So, not that I'm aware of.

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