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Senate Republicans scored a key victory Wednesday with the confirmation of Leslie Southwick to the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. A united GOP conference convinced enough Democrats to cross party lines to first clear a procedural hurdle and then succeed in the confirmation vote. Southwick has been arguably the most contentious judicial nominee of the 110th Congress up to this point, amid strong opposition from Democratic leaders and liberal groups. Senators had invoked cloture in a 62-35 vote and, minutes later, confirmed Southwick on a 59-38 vote. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), in anticipation of a close tally, had halted his presidential campaign and canceled events in New Hampshire to be present for the vote. He blasted Democrats for “delaying tactics” and a “smear campaign” against Southwick. “Liberals, including the Democratic presidential candidates, are opposing Judge Southwick because they know he will strictly interpret the law rather than make it from the bench,” McCain said. Ahead of the vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) noted that there have been a slew of racially charged incidents this year, reaching from Jena, La., to the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Conn. Reid said the country has seen “the reoccurrence of racial issues that we had perhaps assumed, and certainly all hoped, were behind us.” Reid added that the nomination must be viewed in the “the context of race and civil rights.” “For many African-Americans, the federal courts have historically represented the first, last and often the only form of redress against racism and civil injustice,” Reid said before pointing to the opposition of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and other groups to the Southwick nomination as one of the reasons why he voted no. The CBC and the NAACP, in addition to other liberal groups, have charged that Southwick had a hostile record toward minorities while serving on the Mississippi Court of Appeals from 1995 to 2006. Especially contentious is Southwick’s vote in a 1998 case, in which he joined a ruling that upheld the reinstatement of a state employee who was fired for using a racial slur against a black co-worker. Opponents of Southwick have also targeted a 2001 decision, in which he supported giving custody of an 8-year-old girl to a father, saying the mother was living with another woman in a “lesbian home.” Southwick’s supporters, including his home-state senators, Trent Lott (R) and Thad Cochran (R), argued that his critics have distorted the record of a well-qualified nominee by cherry-picking two opinions that he joined but did not author. Southwick has told Judiciary Committee senators that he rejects the use of such slurs and would have a fair and open mind if confirmed to the 5th Circuit court. |
