[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 20]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 27888]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              U.S. SENATE CONFIRMATION OF LESLIE SOUTHWICK

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, October 22, 2007

  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Madam Speaker, I rise today to express 
my strong opposition to the nomination of Leslie Southwick, now being 
considered by the U.S. Senate.
  In an attempt, yet again, to place someone for a lifetime seat on the 
Federal bench, which has traditionally been racially ignorant and 
insensitive towards civil rights, the President has risen to the 
occasion and nominated Leslie Southwick.
  This will be his third nomination, of a Mississippian, to the Fifth 
Circuit since 2001. However, none of his nominations aid in rectifying 
the egregious problem with the lack of diversity on Mississippi's 
Federal bench.
  Mississippi has the highest African-American population, 37 percent, 
of any state in the country. In spite of the hundreds of African-
American lawyers and judges in Mississippi, there has never been an 
African-American, nor any other minority from Mississippi, appointed to 
represent Mississippi on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in the 
history of this country.
  This is a fight worth having. The Fifth Circuit has the highest 
percentage of minority residents of any circuit. At the same time, its 
civil rights jurisprudence is far to the right. The recent events in 
Jena, LA, show the racism in the criminal justice system within the 
jurisdiction of the Fifth Circuit. We cannot afford a nominee hostile 
to civil rights on this or any other Court.
  There is a history with this seat. The President is intent on placing 
someone hostile to civil rights in the Mississippi seat on this Court. 
Charles Pickering and Michael Wallace were nominated but couldn't get 
confirmed because of their civil rights records. This is the third try 
by the Administration, and the pattern is very clear.
  Instead of stepping up to the plate and nominating someone capable of 
delivering fair and impartial decisions on civil rights, the President 
has slapped Mississippians in the face with the recent nomination of 
Southwick. Just look to Southwick's controversial opinions.
  In Richmond v. MS Dep't of Human Services, a white employee was fired 
for using the phrase ``good ole nigger'' toward an African-American co-
worker. When the white employee was fired, a hearing officer reinstated 
the employee. In upholding the reinstatement, the majority (which 
Southwick joined) concluded that using the phrase ``good ole nigger'' 
was equivalent to calling the other employee her ``teacher's pet.'' 
This opinion was unanimously reversed by the Mississippi Supreme Court. 
And this is Bush's No. 1 draft pick?
  Southwick's rulings on race discrimination in jury selections are 
equally disturbing. In such cases there is a noticeable pattern of 
prejudice. Southwick upheld claims that the defense struck white jurors 
on the basis of their race while rejecting claims that the prosecution 
was racially motivated in striking African-American jurors. On one 
hand, Southwick allows prosecutors to strike African-American jurors 
when the motivation is clearly racial, McWilliams v. Mississippi, or 
when the prosecution cites non-racial reasons for the strikes, Davis v. 
Mississippi. Yet, Southwick denies the defenses warranted attempts to 
strike white jurors even when the defense uses the same non-racial 
reasons for the strikes, Webb v. Mississippi. And this is the 
President's No. 1 draft pick?
  The aforementioned cases exemplify several opportunities Southwick 
has had to make a judicious decision befitting such a high court but 
failed to do so.
  Such views must not be tolerated or encouraged through a nomination 
to a lifelong post representing the judicial integrity of our nation. 
By this nomination, the Administration is attempting to reward 
judicious incompetence and great shortsightedness toward civil rights 
issues.
  It's almost as if the President believes that Mississippi does not 
have any competent African-American lawyers. To think that a state 
overflowing with highly capable African-American attorneys cannot fill 
this Mississippi seat is simply preposterous.
  Again, I express my sincere opposition to the nomination of Leslie 
Southwick to Mississippi's Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Mississippi 
needs a nominee who will not look to discourage or impede its growth, 
but instead, support and empower Mississippi's legacy.

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