Creep of the Week: Leslie Southwick

Remember the days when Bush was trying to stack the nation's appeals courts with right-wing ideologues? For anybody feeling nostalgic for that time, don't worry. It never ended.
Right now Bush has Leslie Southwick on deck for a lifetime seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit which covers chunks of Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Southwick has a high anti-civil rights batting average from his days on the Mississippi Court of Appeals.
In one particularly egregious example, in 2001 Southwick joined a totally homophobic ruling that saw an eight-year-old girl yanked away from her mother and put in her father's custody simply because the mother was a lesbian living with another woman. Being gay, he said, is a "choice" and choices have "consequences."
He wrote, "I do recognize that any adult may choose any activity in which to engage; however, I also am aware that such person is not thereby relieved of the consequences of his or her choice. It is a basic tenet that an individual's exercise of freedom will not also provide an escape of the consequences flowing from the free exercise of such a choice. As with the present situation, the mother may view her decision to participate in a homosexual relationship as an exertion of her perceived right to do so. However, her choice is of significant consequence, as described before in the discussion of our State's policies, in that her rights to custody of her child may be significantly impacted."
Does anybody else hear a tone of "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too"? The last thing we need are judges making decisions about the well being of children based on their own personal prejudices instead of the best interest of the child.
It's not just gays he's after, though. According to the People for the American Way,
"In 1998, Southwick joined a ruling in an employment case that upheld the reinstatement, without any punishment whatsoever, of a white state employee who was fired for calling an African American co-worker a 'good ole nigger.' The court's decision effectively ratified a hearing officer's opinion that the slur was only 'somewhat derogatory' and 'was in effect calling the individual a 'teacher's pet.'"
Southwick's decision essentially reduced the case to another African-American playing the "race card" claiming that being called racial epitaphs at work is somehow beneath him. Thankfully, the Mississippi Supreme Court unanimously reversed the ridiculous decision.
Southwick also tends to side with business over American workers and consumers. Just like Bush & Co. Gosh, no wonder they like him so much. According to an Alliance for Justice report, Judge Southwick "has an 89 percent record of voting against workers, consumers and other victims in divided decisions."
Groups like Human Rights Campaign, NAACP of Mississippi and the Congressional Black Caucus oppose Southwick's nomination.
"Southwick appears ready and willing to turn back the clock on fifty years of social justice progress in our nation," said PFAW President Ralph Neas. "The Senate Judiciary Committee must reject Southwick's confirmation."
Yes, they do. Give 'em hell here: http://judiciary.senate.gov.