Summary Judgment

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U.S. District Judge Kenneth Ryskamp does not deserve, as the Bush Administration maintains he does, to sit on the Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A host of civil liberties, civil rights, labor and Jewish groups have opposed his nomination. They cite some of the decisions he has rendered since ascending to the bench in 1986, a reading of which suggests he may be uncomfortable with certain civil and constitutional rights. They have dug through pages of transcripts and found a few insensitive comments (in one instance, he remarked that use of the phrase "Colored Town" to describe an African-American community is not offensive). And they note that the judge, a Reagan appointee, was, …