Long Knives out for Southwick

The left-wing special interest groups have turned up their attacks on Southwick. Excerpts from the piece in today's Clarion Ledger:

"We are looking to the committee to do the right thing," said Nan Aron, president of Alliance for Justice, one of the groups opposed to Southwick's nomination. She also said the committee's acceptance of what she called the first controversial nomination of the new Congress "would set a very dark precedent."

Only one senator has disclosed his opposition to Southwick. On Thursday, Ben LaBolt, press secretary to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., said the senator - a White House candidate - would oppose the nomination if approved by the Judiciary Committee and sent to the Senate floor.

"Senator Obama shares the concerns of his fellow members of the Congressional Black Caucus that Judge Southwick would not adequately defend the rights of workers and enforce civil rights laws, and he opposes his lifetime appointment to the federal appeals court," LaBolt said. "Given the rocky history of appointments to this important seat on the court, Senator Obama believes the president should nominate a consensus candidate who will fairly interpret and uphold the laws of the nation."

Southwick's candidacy is opposed by some of the same groups who helped foster opposition to previous nominees for the seat - retired Judge Charles Pickering and Jackson lawyer Michael Wallace.

Left wing groups in Texas also hit him at press conference.

And from the left's press, The Nation opines: Southwick offers a truly lamentable record of rulings on civil and equal rights and a history that staunchly favors special interests over individual rights and liberties...Southwick has gone out of his way to express troubling views on workers' rights, has joined strikingly homophobic decisions and has voted consistently against consumers and workers in divided torts and employment decisions...The Congressional Black Caucus, Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, People for the American Way, Human Rights Campaign, National Employment Lawyers Association, National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce, Mississippi NAACP and the Magnolia Bar are all calling for his defeat...This is a fight that can be won.