On Thursday President Obama nominated Jackson attorney Debra Brown to fill the vacant judgeship in the Northern District of Mississippi. Here is the press release: WASHINGTON, DC – Today, President Barack Obama nominated Debra M. Brown, Pamela L. Reeves and Elizabeth A. Wolford for District Court judgeships. ”These individuals have demonstrated the talent, expertise, and … Continue Reading
Jennifer Bendery at the Huffington Post had this interesting article last week about President Obama’s attempts to fill federal judge seats. The article explains how appointments are usually made: The process for moving judicial nominees is simple enough. A president takes the lead on circuit court nominees, while, per longstanding tradition, a senator kickstarts the … Continue Reading
Patsy Brumfield with the Daily Journal reported Monday that two new names have surfaced as possible candidates for the open U.S. District Court judgeship in North Mississippi. The article mentions Debra Brown of Wise Carter and La’Verne Edney of Baker Donelson as possible nominees. Both are African-American females who have been practicing since the mid-1990′s… Continue Reading
The Los Angeles Times ran this article on Sunday titled “Obama struggles to nominate, confirm federal judges.” It reads like a re-run. The same article could have been written 3 years ago. The byline of the article accurately states the delay in filling vacancies: “Obama has been slow to nominate judges and Senate Republicans even … Continue Reading
A few weeks ago I asked if Mitt Romney is running the worst campaign ever. Then the first debate happened and Obama started looking like he has Les Miles calling his plays. You know Miles, the LSU coach who often watches his team totally dominate the opposition for 55 minutes only to wake up with … Continue Reading
Note: I wrote the below post before yesterday’s revelation that Mitt Romney threw a hand grenade into his own foxhole. Forget the national polls. If national results counted, then Al Gore would have been president. If ESPN reported in-game football scores the way the media reports polls, it would report yardage instead of the score. "The Saints … Continue Reading
Patsy Brumfield reported in the NEDJ last week that Northern District U.S. Attorney Felicia Adams will be appointed to replace the late Judge Allen Pepper in the Northern District. Adams would be Mississippi’s second female and third African-American district court judge. It has been a meteoric rise for Adams in the last four years. The … Continue Reading
Without question my favorite web site for the November presidential election is electoral-vote.com. Rather than focus on somewhat meaningless national polls, the site focuses on the electoral college math that will actually decide the election. The current standings: Obama– 332 Romney– 206. Romney has a lot of work to do. Much more than if you … Continue Reading
Patsy Brumfield had a good article Sunday in the NEMS Daily Journal about the U.S. District Judge seat created by the sudden death of Judge Allen Pepper in January. Here is the article. The article reports that Judge Pepper’s case load has been absorbed by Judges Michael Mills and Sharion Aycock and Senior Judges Neal … Continue Reading
Barry Friedman has this article in the Nation about Americans losing trust in the U.S. Supreme Court. The best guess as to why is partisanship: A plausible answer is: partisanship. Polls show a widespread disgust with partisanship in Washington; Congress’s approval rating was at an all time low in May. Although the justices often are divided … Continue Reading
For the second presidential election in a row, Mississippi will have a relevant primary on Tuesday. Four years ago it was the Democratic primary. This year, it’s the Republicans’ turn. And everyone gets to vote. It’s an open primary—Democrats get to vote in it. And what Democrat wouldn’t want to have a hand in picking President … Continue Reading
I’ve been complaining to friends for a while that it seems like many people don’t understand what "entitlements" are. Many people seem to think that entitlements are solely welfare and similar programs. They don’t understand that America’s biggest entitlement burdens are social security and Medicare. This letter to the editor in Sunday’s Clarion-Ledger confirmed my … Continue Reading
The WSJ reported this morning on the SEC investigating the compensation of executives of oil-driller Nabors Industries, including CEO Eugen Isenberg. Nabors is about to pay Isenberg $100 million to leave the company. The Journal reports that Nabors executives frequently used corporate jets to fly to resort destinations for the wealthy, such as Palm Beach and … Continue Reading
The Clarion-Ledger is reporting that President Obama nominated Jackson attorney Greg Davis to become U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi: President Barack Obama has nominated a Jackson lawyer as the next U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi. Gregory Davis is a member of the law firm Davis, Goss & Williams PLLC, which … Continue Reading
Governor Haley Barbour pulled out of the 2012 presidential race on Monday. Technically, Barbour withdrew before entering the race. The reality is that he has been running since the Fall and is the first serious candidate to withdraw from the race. There is little speculation in the Mississippi papers as to why Barbour withdrew. That clears the … Continue Reading
As Governor Haley Barbour continues his nation-wide pre-announcement presidential campaign, he is starting to look like one of the GOP front-runners. If not the GOP front-runner. A couple of weeks ago conservative columnist George Will pegged Barbour as one of only 5 real Republican contenders: Let us not mince words. There are at most five plausible … Continue Reading
Over two years after his inauguration, President Obama nominated Felicia Adams to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi on Wednesday. The wire reports state: President Barack Obama has nominated Assistant U.S. Attorney Felicia C. Adams as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi. Adams has been an assistant U.S. attorney … Continue Reading
With the U.S. Senate approving Justice James Graves’ appointment to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday, attention turns to who Governor Barbour will appoint to replace Graves on the Miss. Supreme Court. I posted on this issue in this post last June. I’ve had lines in the water for weeks on this issue and do … Continue Reading
Charles Griffin is reporting that Justice James Graves’ 5th Circuit nomination made it out of the Senate Judiciary Committee this morning. Here is the link… Continue Reading
It’s funny how stories on Gov. Barbour’s foot-in-mouth statement about the white supremacy Citizens Council include statements that “liberal” blogs have cried the loudest. Technically, this may be true. But it’s not the whole story. Non-conservative bloggers are more apt to publicly criticize a Republican presidential candidate’s stupid remarks. But don’t believe for a second that other Republican … Continue Reading
I’m stunned by Gov. Haley Barbour’s recent comments defending the Citizens Council. Here is the Clarion-Ledger article on the story. Tom Freeland has excellent posts about it here and here. Here is what Barbour said: You heard of the Citizens Councils? Up north they think it was like the KKK," Barbour said. "Where I come … Continue Reading
Here is the Clarion-Ledger’s article on Carlton Reeves’ confirmation as a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi. The Senate confirmed Reeves in a voice vote on Sunday. This has been a long time coming to say the least. The fact that Reeves would get the position after President Obama won two years … Continue Reading
On the heels of my post this week predicting a February 10 Presidential bid announcement for Governor Haley Barbour, the Wall Street Journal ran an article today that exposes my analysis as poor. The Journal article points out that early contests have been pushed back from January to February of 2012: The first four nominating … Continue Reading
Nearly two years since I first blogged about Mississippi U.S. Attorney appointments, Ya’ll Politics links this Patsy Brumfield blog article about renewed speculation that President Obama may be about to appoint state Sen. Gray Tollison as the Northern District U.S. Attorney. Tollison’s name first surfaced as a possibility in July. Ms. Brumfield sounds tired of the … Continue Reading
