Judge Southwick Should Be Confirmed

Imwithfred.com ^ | August 1, 2007 | Fred Dalton Thompson

[gpapa]

You’ve probably never heard of Rebecca Nurse, but bear with me for a moment. Nurse arrived in Salem, Massachusetts in 1640. There, despite being known as a woman of virtue and piety, she was accused of being a witch. On July 19, 1692, she was hanged.

Now almost 315 years to the day later, one of Nurse’s ancestors is suffering through a witch hunt of a more modern variety. I’m talking about Judge Leslie Southwick, whose nomination to the long-standing vacancy on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is being thwarted by Senate Democrats.

Sadly, Judge Southwick is just the latest in a long line of nominees for that bench to be delayed. President Bush’s previous two nominees, Charles Pickering in 2004 and then Michael Wallace in 2006, were likewise filibustered by Senate Democrats. Some might think that seat cursed. In reality, it’s just Democrats playing their usual partisan games with a Republican President’s judicial nominations.

We saw this one coming, of course. Earlier this summer, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) announced to liberal lawyers at the American Constitution Society: “I will recommend to my colleagues that we should not confirm a Supreme Court nominee except in extraordinary circumstances.” Evidently, Sen. Schumer’s promise is now his party’s standard operating procedure for any and all Bush Administration judicial nominations.

From the beginning of his Administration, President Bush was committed to appointing judges who understand the appropriate limits on their role and seek to interpret the law as written by Congress — rather than revising it to achieve their own preferred goals. Too many Democrats, though, prefer judges who, under the guise of interpreting the Constitution, will impose their policy preferences on the citizenry.

These are two very different notions of the appropriate role of judges. On this issue, I stand with the President, along with the kinds of judges he appoints, like Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito (both of whom, I’d note are now facing political scrutiny from the Senate Judiciary Committee). The battle for the courts is one that liberals take seriously, and they use every legislative and procedural arrow in their quiver to win — even if it means tearing down good people to achieve their aims.

Judge Southwick’s a good example. His opponents do not question Judge Southwick’s qualifications to sit on the federal appeals court. Indeed, they cannot. Judge Southwick served on the Mississippi Court of Appeals from that court’s very inception in January 1995 through December 2006. Prior to serving as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Division, from 1989 to 1993, he was in a general civil private practice for 12 years. He’s taught law as an adjunct professor at Mississippi College School of Law since 1998. He’s also served his country in Iraq, fulfilling his National Guard duty as Deputy Staff Judge Advocate from August 2004 to July 2005, and then as Staff Judge Advocate until January 2006. Even the American Bar Association, which often treats conservative judicial nominees unfairly, unanimously gave Judge Southwick the institution’s highest possible rating.

So rather than assail Judge Southwick’s legal competency, Senate Democrats, led primarily by Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), are instead attacking Judge Southwick’s character. Ignoring his volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity since 1993 and the time he spent as a board member and president of a local Jackson, Miss., charitable organization, Senate Democrats claim that Judge Southwick is racist and anti-homosexual.

The evidence against Judge Southwick? Two decisions he joined while sitting on the Mississippi Court of Appeals. Two, and only two, out of the more than 7,000 cases Judge Southwick heard, and in both of these instances, Judge Southwick had no hand in the writing of the rulings.

Judge Southwick’s reward for being a qualified judge, and by all accounts a good citizen, is a Senatorial inquisition meant to besmirch his professional and personal reputation. No wonder it gets harder and harder to attract good people to serve in important public positions.

Judge Southwick should be confirmed.

[gpapa]

Ping

[ari-freedom]

but there are witches.

oh and I hope you didn't look....there.

[Clintonfatigued]

A good editorial on an important subject.

[onedoug]

He’s also served his country in Iraq, fulfilling his National Guard duty as Deputy Staff Judge Advocate from August 2004 to July 2005, and then as Staff Judge Advocate until January 2006.

Truly vile democrats.

[napscoordinator]

Which is why we should be interested in getting the Senate, House and keeping the White House in 2008. Too bad people did not think of this in November 2006. Elections are defintely something that should be taken seriously. How can we blame the Democrats for doing this? They are in charge right now!

[Redbob]

A good editorial, but the fact that Fred Dalton Thompson apparently has NO idea what the word "ancestor" means:

"Now almost 315 years to the day later, one of Nurse’s ancestors is suffering through a witch hunt of a more modern variety."

That is, unless this Judge Southwick is about as old as Methuselah.

[perfect_rovian_storm]

unless this Judge Southwick is about as old as Methuselah.

I think you might be having some issues with the meaning of the word if you think it means Southwick needs to be really old for it to be true.

[SAJ]

Redbob apparently means that Thompson wrote 'ancestors' where he meant to write 'descendents'.

Having done the same thing myself on occasion, I believe that citing this error as disqualificatory is a crock.

[elizabetty]

Now almost 315 years to the day later, one of Nurse’s ancestors is suffering through a witch hunt of a more modern variety

Dang, if Southwick is her ANCESTOR, he must be very old.

[lepton]

Now almost 315 years to the day later, one of Nurse’s ancestors is suffering through a witch hunt of a more modern variety.

Time traveller, or really, really old?

[Christian4Bush]

bump

[Politicalmom]

PING!!

Fredipedia: The Definitive Fred Thompson Reference

WARNING: If you want to join, be aware that this ping list is EXTREMELY active.

[prairiebreeze]

No wonder it gets harder and harder to attract good people to serve in important public positions.

This is entirely the communist-Democrat plan.

[Clara Lou]

Golly, Redbob—what a find! Fred’s off my list for sure, now. I had my checkbook out, but you saved me and my money.

[hoosierpearl]

I read on a blog that Mitch McConnell is doing some different things with parliamentary proceedures regarding Judge Southwick, to move it along. He’s not sitting there as Frist always seemed to do IMHO. I don’t know if he will be successful, but he’s pushing things. One thing is a sense of the Senate, to see if Southwick could get enough votes to be confirmed [if they got his name out of committee for a vote].

I’ll have to see if I can find the blog.

[hoosierpearl]

From Captain’s Quarters August 1, 2007
I had trouble posting a link to this.

Sphere It
McConnell To Force Consideration Of Southwick

A source on Capitol Hill tells me that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to force consideration of Judge Leslie Southwick’s nomination to the appellate court in the next few minutes. Stay tuned!

UPDATE: It looks like the debate on this has already started. Pat Leahy is arguing that the Republicans have not asked him to put Southwick’s nomination on the agenda, but that he has done so for tomorrow anyway. He says Republicans “pocket vetoed” 61 Clinton administration appointees, and used one of them — unnamed — to accuse them of racism.

UPDATE II: McConnell introduced an amendment asking for the sense of the Senate on Southwick’s nomination. McConnell apparently wants to show that Southwick would gain a majority for his confirmation on the Senate floor.
Posted by Ed Morrissey at 11:06 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)