[JURIST] Judge Charles Pickering, named by President Bush to the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals through a "recess appointment" in January of this year after his regular nomination stalled in the Senate, has said he is retiring and will make a formal announcement to that effect Thursday. Pickering's nomination was bitterly opposed by Democrats and liberal activist groups that regarded him as being anti-abortion and have a questionable civil rights record. His recess appointment, which lasts only to the start of the next Congressional session, is scheduled to expire in January 2005. Pickering is 67. AP has more.