Opponents Buy More Time to Fight Southwick Nomination

[maddezmom]

The Senate Judiciary Committee put off voting on a contentious nominee to the federal bench for the second time last week, giving liberal interest groups more time to try to convince senators to deep-six the nomination of Leslie Southwick to the 5th Circuit.

Citing insensitivity to civil and gay rights and having a pro-business slant, the groups are opposing Southwick, a former Mississippi appellate judge, who is President George W. Bush's third try at filling the open slot on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which has remained essentially vacant since 2002. His previous two choices -- U.S. District Court Judge Charles Pickering Sr. and lawyer Michael Wallace -- caused an uproar among civil rights groups leading to a standoff in the Senate before Bush appointed Pickering to a recess appointment in 2004. Wallace withdrew his name from consideration last December.

Southwick's nomination is the first test of how the new Democrat-controlled Congress will approach controversial appointees now that the political parties' roles have been reversed. At Southwick's May 10 hearing, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said he wants to avoid "total resistance" to judicial nominations, vowing not to block all Republican nominees. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has also promised to move judicial nominations at a speedy pace.

Leahy and Reid have been pressed on Southwick by the GOP Senate leadership, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Minority Whip Trent Lott (Miss.) who have been pressuring lawmakers to approve the nominee.

How the small-scale confrontation plays out could reveal the extent to which the majority Democrats want to appease their traditional interest group allies at the risk of appearing obstructionist and failing to fill crucial judicial vacancies.


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