Miss. Senators Cochran and Wicker Endorse Carlton Reeves at Senate Judiciary Hearing
Mississippi Republican Senators Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker endorsed Jackson attorney Carlton Reeves at Reeves' Senate Judiciary confirmation hearing on Thursday in Washington. President Obama nominated Reeves to be a U.S. District Court Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi. The position is a lifetime appointment.
A webcast of the hearing can be viewed here. Honestly, it's about like watching paint dry and lacked the grand standing by Senators seen in Supreme Court nominee hearings.
The hearing agenda included four other nominees to the federal bench. I did not watch the entire hearing. By my count there were two Senate Judiciary Committee members at the hearing. Questioning of nominees started at about minute 77 on the webcast.
Senator Kyl of Arizona questioned Reeves about a letter that he wrote in 2007 opposing the nomination of Judge Leslie Southwick to the Fifth Circuit. Reeves handled the questioning well, pointing out that he wrote the letter on behalf of the Magnolia Bar Association. He also pointed out that as of 2007, the Fifth Circuit had only had two African-American judges in its history. In all fairness, Senator Kyl was very polite during the questioning.
In my opinion, the endorsements by Senators Cochran and Wicker guarantee that Reeves will be confirmed in a landslide vote. The Senate vote is not expected to take place for another several months.
Despite pre-hearing speculation, Reeves did not wear his Mississippi Litigation Review and Commentary baseball cap during the hearing.
