Alliance for Justice Statement on Approval of Judge Leslie Southwick

More Business As Usual As Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Controversial Circuit Court Nominee

Nan Aron, president of Alliance for Justice, expressed disbelief following the vote by the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to favorably send to the Senate floor for further consideration the nomination of Judge Leslie Southwick to the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

"The members of the Senate Judiciary Committee had an opportunity to listen to the American people who voted for change last November.  Instead, what we saw today was business as usual in continuing to help President Bush pack the courts," Aron said. "Senators must recognize the transformation that is taking place on the circuit court level particularly given these judges decide tens of thousands of cases."

Eleven of the fifteen seats on the Fifth Circuit are currently held by Republican appointed judges, including three George W. Bush appointees – Priscilla Owen, Edith Brown Clement and Edward Prado. In fact, 11 of the 13 circuit court of appeals currently have a majority of Republican-appointees.

"There is a radical rightward shift that has taken place in our courts," Aron said. "It is absolutely mind-boggling that the American people have a better understanding of that then most members of the Senate Judiciary Committee."

Aron pointed to a new Washington Post-ABC News Poll released on July 29, which showed that the percentage of Americans who believe the Supreme Court is "too conservative" grew from 19 percent to 31 percent in the past two years since the addition of Bush's nominees, Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito, while those who said it is "generally balanced in its decisions" declined from 55 percent to 47 percent. 

During more than a decade on the Mississippi Court of Appeals, Judge Leslie Southwick compiled a lengthy record of voting against civil, worker, and consumer rights (89% of the time in split-decisions).  His nomination was opposed by a broad coalition of leading groups, including the Congressional Black Caucus, the Magnolia Bar Association, the Mississippi NAACP, and the AFL-CIO.

Alliance for Justice remains strongly opposed to Leslie Southwick's lifetime appointment to the Court of Appeals and urges Senators to carefully review his entire record – "a record that shows a clear pattern of opposition to civil and equal rights for all Americans," Aron concluded.