Judge Southwick was rated "well qualified" by the American Bar Association. He thus received the highest rating given by this organization, which has certainly not been prone to "grade inflation" when it comes to President Bush's nominees.

It's easy to see why Judge Southwick received this rating. After graduating from the University of Texas Law School in 1975, he clerked for Fifth Cirucit Judge Charles Clark, a very solid judge before whom I appeared a few times. Then, after more than a decade in private practice, he served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Division under the first President Bush. From January 1995 through December 2006, he was a judge on the Mississippi Court of Appeals. Meanwhile, in 2005 he served in Iraq as a member of the Mississippi National Guard's 155th Brigade Combat Team. While on active duty, Southwick was Deputy Staff Judge Advocate and then Staff Judge Advocate. And he has been a Habitat for Humanity volunteer in his community since 1993.

The Democrats, led by Senator Durbin, claim that Southwick is a racist, or at least that he is racially insensitive. This accusation is scurillous and has been completely demolished.

In evaluating judicial nominees, the ABA carefully scrutinizes issues of character. In this connection it specifically investigates whether the nominee has freedom from bias and commitment to equal justice under the law. If the ABA's investigation had yielded any evidence that Southwick is racist or racially insensitive, as Durbin and other leftists claim, the ABA certainly would not have awarded him its highest rating.

--Power Line, July 26, 2007

# posted by Jessica Smith @ 10:40 AM