A Congressional Quarterly article today by Keith Perine indicates that moderate Democrats are trying to push through Southwick in return for GOP Senators getting out of the way on spending bills. This is absolutely the wrong type of compromise. Visit NoSouthwick.com to help us push Senators to vote NO on Southwick.

A moderate Senate Democrat is working behind the scenes to line up enough Democrats to force a confirmation vote on a contentious appellate court nominee, while winning concessions from Republicans in return.

Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson is trying to corral at least 11 Democrats and nine Republicans for a deal that would in some ways echo the “Gang of 14” effort that averted a Senate implosion over judicial nominations in 2005. This time, though, Nelson has broadened his effort.

On one hand, he is trying to persuade Democrats to vote against a filibuster of the nomination of Leslie Southwick to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. But Nelson also wants Republicans to agree, in return, to not stand in the way of Senate action on fiscal 2008 spending bills.
(more…)

A floor vote by the Senate on Southwick that was expected today will not take place, according to a staffer in Sen. Feinstein’s office. No word on when it might be rescheduled.

And CaliforniaProgressReport.com published today a post by Alliance for Justice’s Doug Lakey, “Feinstein Asked by Civil Rights Community to Oppose Southwick Confirmation to US Court of Appeals.”

The editorial board of The New York Times launched a new blog yesterday with a post questioning Senator Dianne Feinstein’s support for Leslie Southwick, Bush’s nominee for New Orleans-based United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Judge Southwick “has the sort of record that should have made his nomination dead on arrival,” wrote the author. “Mississippi Judge Leslie Southwick, whose record includes decisions that have been labeled anti-black and anti-gay, is just the sort of Bush judicial nominee everyone thought would be blocked when Democrats retook the Senate. But Judge Southwick may be headed for confirmation thanks to Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat.”

Carrie Budoff Brown also blogged about our coalition’s efforts on politico.com:

“The other side is targeting Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Ca.), who cast the decisive vote in the Judiciary Committee that sent his nomination to the full Senate. A coalition that includes Alliance for Justice launched a petition and email campaign earlier this month, arguing that his record is hostile to gays and lesbians, workers and minorities. Videos have also been posted on YouTube.”

Other notable posts include those by Christy Hardin Smith on firedoglake.com, Brian Leubitz on calitics.com and Josh Richman on InsideBayArea.

Our NoSouthwick.com campaign presses along, but we still need your help to pressure Sen. Feinstein into opposing Southwick’s confirmation.

Visit NoSouthwick.com and check out our banner ads, YouTube videos, sign our petition and use the phone numbers we posted to call Sen. Feinstein’s office expressing your opposition to Southwick.

Alliance for Justice (afj.org) today asked that you urge your Senators to stop Leslie Southwick’s ascension to the federal bench.  In recent meetings with Senators, staff expressed doubt that their constituents care about this nomination.

AFJ has been pressing for the defeat of Leslie Southwick’s nomination to the Fifth Circuit.  But despite widespread opposition to the confirmation of Judge Southwick, his nomination was voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee last month and now is headed to the Senate floor.

The Congressional Black Caucus, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, People for the American Way, Human Rights Campaign, National Employment Lawyers Association, National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce, Mississippi NAACP, the Magnolia Bar and the Equal Justice Society are all calling for his defeat.

On the Mississippi Court of Appeals, Judge Leslie Southwick consistently favored corporations, insurance companies, and other powerful interests over vulnerable American workers and consumers.  His record calls into question his commitment to equal dignity and equal justice for minorities.  At his hearing, Judge Southwick did nothing to allay these serious concerns.

The Fifth Circuit has more minority residents than any other circuit and frequently hears critical civil rights cases. It is especially important, therefore, that a nominee to this court has an unwavering commitment to equal justice and a willingness to protect the rights of less politically powerful groups such as minorities, workers, and consumers.

Instead, Judge Southwick has compiled a stark and lengthy record of rejecting the claims of racial minorities and siding with business interests against workers and consumers.

Judge Southwick was criticized by a member of his own court in Mississippi for having a double standard in cases involving racial discrimination in jury selection. And, in one especially egregious case, Judge Southwick trivialized an employee’s use of the “n” word in the workplace and voted to reinstate her employment.

Moreover, Judge Southwick has an 89 percent record of voting against workers, consumers and other victims in divided decisions. In 160 out of 180 published decisions involving state employment law and torts cases in which at least two judges dissented, Judge Southwick voted against the injured party and in favor of business interests, such as corporations or insurance companies.

At his confirmation hearing, Senator Durbin (D-Il) asked Judge Southwick to give an example of a time when he’d made an unpopular decision in favor of “the little guy” — a poor person, a member of a racial minority, or someone who had turned to the courts for help. Judge Southwick couldn’t name a single one.

Judge Southwick has not shown himself to be the kind of judge fit for a lifetime seat on the federal bench.

Click here to fax a message to your Senators’ offices to vote against Leslie Southwick.

Posted today on Alliance for Justice’s Justice Digest blog:

Yesterday, President Bush sent four new Circuit Court nominees to the Senate.

Fourth Circuit: Robert J. Conrad, Jr is currently a district court judge for the Western District of North Carolina. When he was confirmed for the district judgeship in 2005, Senator Leahy and former Senator John Edwards expressed concern about his nomination. According to a statement by Senator Leahy, Conrad’s written work is disturbing. He wrote one article entitled “Planned Parenthood, A Radical, Pro-Abortion Fringe Group,” and referred to Sister Prejean’s book Dead Man Walking as “liberal drivel”

Leahy was rightly concerned that: “The rhetoric he uses is heated, and his bias for the death penalty is clear. Will any defendant in a capital case who comes before a Judge Conrad feel that they will get a fair hearing from him? Will he feel that a Judge Conrad can put aside personal prejudices and preconceptions?” Leahy went on to add: “His statements make me wonder whether any person going before a Judge Conrad in a case involving reproductive rights, or indeed any issue related to personal privacy, will feel their arguments have been fairly heard. Will he be able to follow the law as written?”

Third Circuit: Shalom D. Stone is a partner in the New Jersey law firm of Walder, Hayden & Brogan. According to an article in New Jersey’s Star Ledger, the White House ignored long-standing procedure and did not consult Stone’s home state senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez prior to Stone’s nomination. Neither New Jersey senator is familiar with Stone, his work or his legal views.

Fifth Circuit: Will she be another Jennifer Elrod? Catharina Haynes is currently in private practice after serving as a state court judge in Dallas, TX from 1998 until 2002. Like Elrod, it is likely that her written record as a judge is very thin.

Seventh Circuit: John Daniel Tinder has been a judge on the district court for the Southern District of Indiana since 1987.

We are concerned that the White House continues to refuse to consult with Democratic senators and to nominate people who have troubling records or no record at all. Nevertheless, we will be busily working to learn all that we can about these new nominees and whether they are qualified to serve lifetime appointments on our Circuit Courts.

No more extremist judges on the federal bench!

Recent reports indicate that Senator Dianne Feinstein “continues to wrestle with her vote” on extremist judicial nominee Leslie Southwick and “needs time ‘to think more about it.’” She must hear from us now! Contact Senator Feinstein to urge her to block the confirmation of this extremist judge because:

* Leslie Southwick has an abysmal record on racial discrimination issues
* He has expressed a willingness to discriminate against gays and lesbians
* Southwick has the worst record of his Mississippi Court of Appeals peers when it comes to workers rights

Call Senator Feinstein’s Offices:
Washington, D.C.: (202) 224-3841 / San Francisco: (415) 393-0707
Los Angeles: (310) 914-7300 / San Diego: (619) 231-1108

If you’re not in California, click here to use PFAW’s action tool.

Urge Feinstein to vote against Southwick because of his clearly demonstrated judicial extremism. Southwick and several Republican Senators are holding private meetings to assure Senator Feinstein and other Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that Southwick will be a moderate contrary to his existing record.

As a state appellate judge, Leslie Southwick had an abysmal record on racial discrimination issues. For example, he ruled to reinstate a white employee who had been fired for calling an African-American coworker “a good ole [‘n’ word].” Southwick also routinely rejected defense claims that prosecutors struck African-American jurors based on race; while at the same time, he has usually upheld allegations of race discrimination when prosecutors claim that the defense has struck white jurors.

Southwick has also expressed a willingness to discriminate against gays and lesbians. In ruling to remove a child from the custody of her bisexual mother, he joined an anti-gay opinion that argued the “choice” to engage in homosexuality comes with consequences, up to and including the consideration of “the homosexual lifestyle” as a determining factor in child custody cases. Finally, Southwick has the worst record of all judges on the Mississippi Court of Appeals when it comes to the rights of workers and victims of personal injury. In 160 of 180 published decisions, Southwick’s rulings have favored business and insurance interests over injured parties

Let Senator Feinstein know that during this past Supreme Court term we witnessed enough fallout of President Bush’s nomination of extremist judges. Justice Alito and Chief Justice Roberts both promised in Senate Confirmation hearings that their history of extremist decisions would be tempered by moderation and judicial restraint. However, just as we feared, these justices remained true to their pre-nomination ideology and in case after case pushed a conservative, reactionary agenda that caused serious cutbacks in employment discrimination law, reproductive freedom, and most recently, voluntary racial integration plans.

Now, the Administration continues to try and push ideological extremists into life appointments on the Federal Court of Appeals. President Bush has already tried to place two other unacceptable nominees on the 5th Circuit, and now pushes for Southwick’s confirmation despite a clear record of Southwick’s failing to protect victims of racial discrimination, prejudice towards gays and lesbians, and hostility towards working people.

Call Senator Feinstein TODAY and urge her to vote against the confirmation of Leslie Southwick!

It only takes minutes. All you need to do is call and tell her office that you urge the Senator to vote against the confirmation of Leslie Southwick. They ask for your zip code and you are done.

U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein:
Washington, D.C.: (202) 224-3841 / San Francisco: (415) 393-0707
Los Angeles: (310) 914-7300 / San Diego: (619) 231-1108

Kyle from People for the American Way’s rightwingwatch.org discusses how the Right charges opponents of their judicial nominees as being racist or accusing the nominee of being racist — neither of which are true:

Ever since the election of President Bush, Republicans and their allies on the Right have frequently dealt with opposition to his controversial judicial nominations by ignoring the arguments raised by those with legitimate concerns about a nominee’s record in favor of knocking down strawmen of their own creation.

…

Thus, it should come as no surprise that with a battle brewing over the nomination of Leslie Southwick to a seat on the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit – not incidentally, the very same seat for which Charles Pickering and Michael Wallace were nominated, both of whom faced significant opposition due to their disturbing records on civil rights - the Right has reverted to form and begun using both of these tactics: claiming either that opponents of Southwick’s confirmation are racist or are accusing him of being a racist.

From Alliance for Justice in an email sent today:

Clearly your calls and emails are working. Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed its vote on Leslie Southwick until next week. We expect the battle over his confirmation to intensify over the next week, so we need to keep up the pressure.

Opposition to Southwick is mounting. In the last few days numerous groups including AFL-CIO, SEIU, ADA Watch, Legal Momentum joined NAACP, Mississippi NAACP, Magnolia Bar, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Human Rights Campaign, National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce, Congressional Black Caucus, National Employment Lawyers Association, People for the American Way and Alliance for Justice in opposing Judge Southwick.

However, there are signs that conservatives are redoubling their efforts to confirm him. Today’s Washington Times quoted Trent Lott threatening to bring the Senate to a standstill over the nomination, saying “It could be total shutdown here pretty soon.”

If you haven’t called or emailed already, please do so in the next few days. We will keep you informed as the week progresses. We expect the vote to take place next Thursday in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Thanks again for your calls and emails.

Call or email your senator and urge him or her to vote against Leslie Southwick.

For more information about Judge Southwick, see our fact sheet, full report, and post-hearing report.

The following letter was faxed today to Sen. Feinstein in opposition to the nomination of Leslie Southwick to the Fifth Circuit.June 5, 2007

The Honorable Dianne Feinstein
The United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator Feinstein:

Californians for Fair and Independent Judges strongly opposes the nomination of Leslie Southwick to the Fifth Circuit. We are deeply troubled by aspects of his record that raise serious concerns regarding his commitment to civil and human rights and protecting the rights of workers and consumers. Judge Southwick’s position in joining the 5-4 ruling in Richmond v. Mississippi Dep’t of Human Services, excusing a supervisor who referred to an African American co-worker as a “good ole n*****” is deeply disquieting, as is his genuine reluctance to distance himself from this ruling at his recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. His record of denying defense assertions that African-Americans are routinely stricken from juries as a result of racial discrimination, while upholding assertions by prosecutors that defendants improperly sought to strike white jurors adds further to our concerns that he lacks the necessary commitment to equal application of civil rights laws necessary to sit on the Fifth Circuit, with its long history of civil rights dockets.

Equally troubling is his position in S.B. v. L.W., a family law case in which he joined in a strikingly gratuitously homophobic concurrence, taking the position - later held contrary to Mississippi law by the Mississippi Supreme Court- that a lesbian mother’s sexual orientation alone was a legitimate reason to deny her custody of her children. Yet again, in the recent Judiciary Committee hearing, Judge Southwick stood by the faulty reasoning in the concurrence and only with the greatest reluctance, after extensive questioning, did he attempt unsuccessfully to address concerns that he might regard sexual orientation as a “lifestyle choice” that would effect his future rulings. Additionally, his record of favoring business and insurance interests over the interests of employees and individuals, as he did in 160 out of 180 published cases, argues strongly against his confirmation.

Californians for Fair and Independent Judges is a statewide coalition of organizations which support a fair and balanced judicial nominating process and oppose an extreme right-wing federal bench engaged in ultra-conservative judicial activism. We support the appointment of federal judges who are open-minded, who view the Constitution as a living document, and are committed to the role of the federal courts in protecting civil rights, individual liberties and the environment, and in guaranteeing due process, equal protection of the laws, the right of privacy and access to justice.

We have been very appreciative of the strong positions that you took in opposing the confirmations of Charles Pickering, Sr. and Michael Wallace to the 5th Circuit seat to which Judge Southwick is now nominated. We know, from your comments opposing these nominations to the same seat which Judge Southwick has been nominated, that you are mindful of the importance which the Fifth Circuit - one of the most heavily minority circuits in the country - has played in protecting civil rights. We share the outrage expressed by the Mississippi NAACP and the Magnolia Bar Association (the African American bar of Mississippi) that this Administration refuses to nominate any African Americans to district or circuit court seats in this heavily minority circuit . Rather, we are forced to conclude, as the Magnolia Bar Association stated in its letter to Chairman Patrick Leahy of May 30, that Judge Southwick’s nomination to the Fifth Circuit “continues a stark pattern of … racial exclusion in appointments by President Bush to the Fifth Circuit and to the federal judiciary in Mississippi.” We are struck by his limited but troubling record in civil rights cases, and by the push for his speedy confirmation, which seems to us similar to the situation first presented by the nomination of Charles Pickering, Sr. We find that we must further agree with Derek Johnson, the president of the Mississippi NAACP, in concluding that “the administration is determined to place a person hostile to civil rights in the Mississippi seat.”

Judge Southwick’s record and his testimony at his confirmation hearing and in answering written questions shows that he does not have the requisite concern for the rights of racial minorities, gays and lesbians, workers and consumers to serve on the federal bench. We strongly urge you to do everything in your power to block his confirmation.

Sincerely,

Californians for Fair and Independent Judges
Californians for Fair and Independent Judges includes:

Susan Lerner, Chair
Committee for Judicial Independence
Los Angeles, CA

Eva Paterson, President
Equal Justice Society
San Francisco, CA

Helen Griego, Executive Director
Mandy Benson, President
California NOW
Sacramento, CA

Linda Cianciolo, Executive Committee
San Diego County NOW

Kate Kendell, Esq.,Executive Director
National Center for Lesbian Rights
San Francisco, CA

Bill Lakin, Executive Committee
Project Freedom of Religion
An affiliate of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

Margie Fites Seigle, President & CEO
California Family Health Council, Inc.
Los Angeles, CA

Jamie D. Brooks
Oakland, CA

Aileen Clarke Hernandez
Chair, Coalition for Economic Equity
Oakland, CA

Cc: Senator Patrick Leahy, Chair, US Senate Judiciary Committee

Originally posted on pfaw.org: 

President Bush has nominated Leslie Southwick to fill a seat on the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Bush previously tried to fill the seat with Charles Pickering and then Michael Wallace, both of whom faced significant opposition due to their disturbing legal records, especially on civil rights.

“Regrettably, Southwick also has a troubling record and appears to be cut from the same cloth as the others,” said Ralph G. Neas, President of People For the American Way. “First Pickering, then Wallace, and now Southwick – Bush has completely struck out on the Fifth Circuit.”

Southwick served as a judge on Mississippi’s intermediate appellate court – the Mississippi Court of Appeals – from 1995-2006. The court does not routinely consider the types of federal constitutional and civil rights matters that come before the Fifth Circuit, but Southwick’s judicial record is telling nonetheless. Two cases in particular serve to highlight Southwick’s lack of commitment to the social justice progress of the last fifty years.

In 1998, Southwick joined a ruling in an employment case that upheld the reinstatement, without any punishment whatsoever, of a white state employee who was fired for calling an African American co-worker a “good ole nigger.” The court’s decision effectively ratified a hearing officer’s opinion that the slur was only “somewhat derogatory” and “was in effect calling the individual a ‘teacher’s pet.’” The Mississippi Supreme Court unanimously reversed the decision.

In 2001, Southwick joined a ruling that upheld a chancellor’s decision to take an eight-year-old girl away from her mother and award custody to the father, who had never married the mother, largely because the mother was living with another woman in a “lesbian home.” Southwick went even further by joining a gratuitously anti-gay concurrence which extolled Mississippi’s right under “the principles of Federalism” to treat “homosexual persons” as second-class citizens. The concurrence suggested that sexual orientation is a choice and stated that an adult is not “relieved of the consequences of his or her choice” – e.g. losing custody of one’s child.

“Just like Pickering and Wallace before him, Southwick appears ready and willing to turn back the clock on fifty years of social justice progress in our nation,” said Neas. “Southwick had an opportunity at his recent hearing to demonstrate a commitment to Americans’ individual rights and freedoms, but he proved that he still doesn’t get it. The Senate Judiciary Committee must reject Southwick’s confirmation.”

Neas noted that not all of Southwick’s record has been provided to the Judiciary Committee, including records from his tenure in the Bush 41 Department of Justice and more than two year’s worth of unpublished decisions by the Mississippi Court of Appeals in cases on which he voted but did not write an opinion. “Given what we already know about Southwick, it would be irresponsible for Senators to proceed with his nomination,” said Neas.