U.S. Senate Confirmation of Leslie Southwick

Floor Speech

U.S. SENATE CONFIRMATION OF LESLIE SOUTHWICK -- (Extensions of Remarks - October 22, 2007)

SPEECH OF 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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