Senator Dianne Feinstein has sunk to a new low in joining with Ben Nelson of Nebraska; Daniel Akaka of Hawaii; Robert Byrd of West Virginia; Tim Johnson of South Dakota; both Arkansas Senators, Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor; and both North Dakota Senators, Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan and 49 Republicans in approving racist, anti-labor, anti-gay Leslie Southwick as Justice in the US 5th Court of Appeals, which includes Texas, Louisiana and Missississippi.

From: "US Senate confirms right-wing judge to Mississippi court" by Naomi Spencer, 10/26/07 at http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/oct2007/sout-o26.shtml

pertinent paragraphs describing Leslie Southwick's legal decisions while judge in the Mississippi Court of Appeals:

"Most cited has been a 1998 decision of the Mississippi Employee Appeals Board, upheld by the state’s appeals court, to reinstate a white state employee who was fired for referring to a black co-worker as a “good ole nigger.” Southwick concurred with the majority opinion that supported the Employee Appeals Board opinion that the slur “was in effect calling the individual a ‘teacher’s pet’” and only “somewhat derogatory.” The state Supreme Court later unanimously reversed this decision."

"In 2001, Southwick joined in the majority opinion upholding a lower court decision to grant sole custody of an eight-year-old girl to her father in part because her single mother was a lesbian who had had two different partners during the child’s lifetime. In Mississippi, homosexuality can be cited as one reason for stripping a parent of custody, even in cases where the child is reared by a single parent."

"Southwick was the only judge hearing the case to sign onto a concurrence written by another member of the court that exhibited the breathtaking homophobia behind the ruling, and others that have shaped Mississippi custody laws: “I do recognize that any adult may choose any activity in which to engage,” wrote Judge Mary Libby Payne. “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.”"

"While these two cases demonstrate Southwick’s marked intolerance to civil rights, his career has tacked consistently against ordinary working and poor plaintiffs."

"The Mississippi Court of Appeals is an intermediate court consisting of 10 judges, primarily involved in state law cases, such as workers’ compensation claims, contracts and torts cases. A review of Southwick’s opinions by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights coalition found that 89 percent of the time the judge ruled against injured workers and consumer suits. In 160 out of 180 published decisions involving torts and employment law, in which at least one judge issued a dissenting opinion, Southwick voted in favor of business interests."

"In fact, Southwick received the highest rating of any judge on the appeals court by a Mississippi business advocacy group. In a 1999 worker compensation suit brought against Du Pont corporation and an X-ray company, Southwick issued a dissenting opinion that an employee, who had no way of knowing until years later that her substantial medical problems were caused by toxic substances she was exposed to at work, should be barred from suing for compensation by the statute of limitations. Southwick argued that the plaintiff’s symptoms, which began in 1983 but were not diagnosed until 1993, exceeded the three-year limit in which an injured employee could file a suit."

"In another case, the Mississippi Appeals Court heard a suit brought by a family against Synergy Corporation. The family sued after their propane heater exploded, destroying their home and killing their granddaughter. Synergy maintained it had not performed any work on the heater to cause a leak, and the jury found for the company. Later an employee came forward with contradictory evidence, and the family filed an appeal. Dismissing the case, Southwick argued that the family did not exercise due diligence in uncovering evidence prior to trial, disregarding the fact that Synergy had withheld this evidence and did not disclose it under oath."