Mississippi Litigation Review & Commentary : Mississippi Personal Injury Lawyer & Attorney : Phillip W. Thomas Law Firm : MS Litigation Review & Commentary

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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.

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On Monday the Senate Committee on the Judiciary scheduled Jackson attorney Carlton Reeves' confirmation hearing for Thursday of this week. In April President Obama nominated Reeves to be a United States District Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi. The hearing will be at 3:00 central time in Room 226 of the Senate Dirksen Office Building in Washington.

The hearing is open to the public and can be viewed on the internet at this link: http://www.judiciary.senate.gov/hearings/hearing.cfm?id=4687.

Typically, the confirmation hearings for district court nominees are a mere formality. The hearing should not be confused with a full Senate vote, which probably will not take place for at least a couple of months. This is not unusual and in all likelihood, the Senate will approve Reeves' nomination by a wide margin. 

Once the Senate approves Reeves' nomination, he will probably be sworn in as a judge within a matter of a few days. Reeves' formal investiture ceremony will likely be scheduled for a few months after he actually takes the oath and begins serving as a judge. My guess is that Reeves' investiture will be sometime after the new federal courthouse in Jackson opens this Fall. 

For earlier posts on Reeves' nomination see here  and here.

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USA Today has this new article on the slow going that President Obama is having in getting federal judicial appointments approved by the Senate. The article is fairly typical of similar articles focusing on the confirmation delay during the past year or so.

 The article notes that the President is appointing record numbers of non-white males:

So far he is setting records for the number of women and minorities nominated to lifetime appointments. Nearly half of the 73 candidates he has tapped for the bench have been women. In all, 25% have been African Americans, 10% Hispanics and 11% Asian Americans.

But delay is the name of the game for Republicans:

During his first 18 months in office, his administration has been thwarted by unprecedented delays. The situation, which has received little notice against the backdrop of a pending Supreme Court nomination and the administration's complex legislative agenda, could undercut Obama's effort to significantly infuse the federal courts with more women and minorities.

The article recognizes that the Obama administration is not blameless:

With few exceptions, Senate Democrats have yet to try to force Republicans' hand. The Obama White House has been distracted by other issues — even on the judicial front, where the administration has had two high-court nominations.

Unfortunately, the article misses the point that a huge delay is the one by the President in making his appointments. It took President Obama a year and a half to nominate Carlton Reeves to the U.S. District Court despite the fact that everyone knew that Reeves would probably get the nomination after Obama won the 2008 election.

It took only eight months or so for the President to nominate Justice James Graves to the 5^th  Circuit. But again, that was too long of a delay given the fact that Graves was the front-runner from the day that Judge Barksdale took senior status. The delays in making the nominations of Reeves and Graves are 100% the fault of the Obama administration.

Sure now that the nominations have been made Republicans can be faulted for going into the 4–corners. But is that surprising? That's how Republicans play politics and Republican Senate leaders argue that it came from the Democratic play book:

I don't say all of this to say there is going to be payback," Sessions said after Leahy earlier criticized GOP stall tactics. "I am saying this to set the record straight because I will not stand silent and have what is happening today be compared with the incredibly obstructive actions the Democrats took in early 2000."

Football fans aren't surprised and don't cry when the team ahead starts taking a knee in the last two minutes of the game. Likewise, Democrats should stop crying over spilled milk and should be more proactive in making nominations in a timely fashion and pushing harder to get votes in the Senate.

Earlier posts on President Obama's judicial appointments.

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On Thursday President Obama finally nominated Mississippi Supreme Court Justice James Graves to serve on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Here is the Clarion-Ledger's article. Here is Graves' bio on the Supreme Court's web site.

Graves has been the front runner since Judge Barksdale took senior status in the Fall. My prior posts on the vacancy are here, here, and here.

Justice Graves is very deserving and will do a fine job on the Fifth Circuit. He was a great Circuit Court judge who earned the respect of lawyers on the plaintiff and defense side. Watching hearings before Judge Graves was entertaining. He told many lawyers that they were winning based on their brief—but were losing the lead in oral argument. It was always interesting to see who had the sense to sit down and shut up. He had little tolerance for bad cases and unprepared attorneys.

Graves was also extremely effective and under rated in getting cases settled. He could scare both sides into settling. Judge Charles Pickering was the only judge that I have encountered who was as effective at pressuring the parties into settlement.

Some may disagree, but I view Justice Graves as a moderate in civil cases on the Mississippi Supreme Court. Sometimes he votes for the plaintiff, sometimes for the defense. I expect that to continue on the Fifth Circuit.

On Monday I will look to how Justice Graves' appointment may impact the dynamics on the Mississippi Supreme Court and speculate on possible appointments for the seat by Governor Barbour.

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In nominating Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court this week, President Obama made a safe choice. Kagan has almost no paper trail because she has never been a judge. There is little evidence to suggest that Kagan is liberal and little about her that can be subjected to legitimate criticism. Attacks from the right will be motivated by the fact that she is an Obama nominee and little else. Barring an Anita Hill type bombshell, Kagan will be confirmed as only the fourth woman to serve on the Court.

Obama also made a safe choice in appointing Justice Sonia Sotomayor last year. Although Sotomayor was a judge who leaned to the left, she was a Hispanic woman. Republicans could not ruthlessly attack her for fear of alienating Hispanic voters.

Two Supreme Court Appointments. Two safe picks. Maybe that helps explain the delays in filling Mississippi vacancies on the 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals, District Courts and U.S. Attorneys.

It takes time to make sure that picks are safe. A lot of digging into their background must be done. And if a candidate turns out to be unsafe, then its back to the drawing board. My personal opinion is that Obama is being overly cautious. Otherwise, his administration is inept in filling vacancies.    

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There is a lot of attention today on Carlton Reeves’ nomination to be a U.S. Dist. Judge in Mississippi. Here are some:

• Clarion-Ledger article (a good article with quotes from Reeves, Rep. Bennie Thompson and Reeves’ law partner Cliff Johnson)
• Main Justice
• Ipse Blogit
• NMC
• Will Bardwell
• Y’all Politics
• Minority Defense Litigator

The nomination is getting widespread praise in these outlets and among members of the Mississippi Bar.

Meanwhile, on North Congress Street speculation now turns to whether Senate confirmation will force the frugal Reeves to upgrade his vehicle, which he has been driving since the 90’s.  [Note to soon-to-be Judge Reeves: your ride is awesome. You’re the greatest, (insert your own compliment here)].

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It took a year and a half, but President Obama finally nominated Jackson attorney Carlton Reeves to be a U.S. District Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi. The nomination has been expected from the day that Obama won the 2008 presidential election.

Here is Reeves’ profile at his firm’s web site.

Reeves is a Yazoo City native and is a graduate of Jackson State and the University of Virginia School of Law. He clerked on the Mississippi Supreme Court for Judge Rueben Anderson, was the Chief of the Civil Division of the Southern District U.S. Attorney’s Office and has been in private practice with Phelps Dunbar and his current firm of Pigott Reeves Johnson.

Here are my prior posts on Reeves.

Reeves is very popular in the Jackson Bar and the expectation among lawyers is that he will be a fair and popular judge. Reeves will join Bush appointees Judge Dan Jordan and Judge Sul Ozerden as young Southern District judges who will likely be on the bench for thirty or more years.

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Main Justice has this story reporting that Southern District Assistant U.S. Attorney Felicia Adams is being considered for the U.S. Attorney in the Northern District. Adams was once thought to be a candidate for the open Fifth Circuit judgeship, but it’s now pretty clear that Justice James Graves will be appointed to the Fifth Circuit unless unexpected opposition emerges. Graves is deep into the vetting process with his name already having been passed on to the A.B.A.

It appears that Adams being in the running for the Fifth Circuit helped her with the U.S. Attorney post, since she was not previously known to be a candidate for the position. Adams is not well known in the Jackson legal community, but is well thought of by those who do know her.

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It has been five months since 5^th Circuit Judge Rhesa Barksdale announced that he was taking senior status, giving President Obama a slot to fill on the 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals. After initial speculation that the position would be filled by someone from Texas or Louisiana, word leaked that the President would fill the position with an African-American Mississippian.

Mississippi Supreme Court Justice James Graves immediately emerged as the favorite for the nomination, as discussed in this post. Other names mentioned for the nomination at one time or another in legal circles include:  

1. Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Winston Kidd,
2. Hinds County Chancery Court Judge Denise Owens,
3. former Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Robert Gibbs,
4. Jackson attorney Doug Minor,
5. Assistant U.S. Attorney Felicia Adams,  
6. Circuit Court Judge Margaret Carey-McRae,
7. Jackson attorney Walter Johnson, and
8. Jackson attorney and presumptive District Court nominee Carlton Reeves.

I believe that the White House has interviewed at least several people on this list.

Speculation continues to center on Justice Graves as the front-runner for the nomination. He is the only person on  the list with appellate court experience, in addition to previously serving as a trial judge in Hinds County Circuit Court. Justice Graves is rumored to have the support of individual(s) with close ties to the White House Counsel’s Office.

Although Justice Graves may not have universal support in conservative circles, he is rumored to have the tacit approval of Governor Haley Barbour, who would like to appoint an African-American to the Mississippi Supreme Court to strengthen his 2012 presidential bid. Governor Barbour is effectively running for President now, which should be kept in mind when viewing his political moves.

One thing the Governor needs to do before the official campaign starts is to repair his glaring deficiency in appointing minorities to judge positions, as discussed here and here. Since criticism of Barbour ‘s minority appointment record became public last year he quietly appointed several African-American judges, including appointing Macolm Harrison to fill the seat of Bobby DeLaughter. If Justice Graves is confirmed for the 5^th Circuit, Governor Barbour will get to name his replacement on the Mississippi Supreme Court. Appointing an African-American to the Supreme Court would go a long way to blunt the criticism of Barbour’s record on minority appointments.

One thing that appears certain is that the White House better get moving if it intends to fill Judge Barksdale’s seat. There is less than two years until the Iowa caucuses. But the 2012 presidential race will kick off a year before that—meaning that we are less than a year from formal announcements from Republican presidential candidates. Doesn’t that sound like fun? Presidential election campaigning less than a year away?

Once the presidential election cycle begins confirmation of judicial nominees in the Senate takes a back-seat to campaigning and political gamesmanship. At some point, the Republicans will stall votes on all nominees in hopes of regaining the White House. Look for that point to be at least a year before the election in 2012. 

This means that the clock is ticking for President Obama to fill federal court vacancies. And with Supreme Court Justices Stephens and Ginsberg expected to step down this year or next year at the latest, the White House will focus on filling those vacancies. 

President Obama needs to nominate someone for the 5^th Circuit soon and press for a Senate vote this year. Failure to do so could result in a lost opportunity to add diversity to the Court and would be a black-eye for the Obama administration. It has been known for close to a year that Judge Barksdale would be taking senior status and he made his formal announcement in September. It's inexcusable that it has taken the White House this long to name a replacement--and we're still waiting.

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Main Justice is reporting today that Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama withdrew most of his holds on presidential nominees late last night:

Shelby’s office announced late last night that the senator would drop his “blanket hold” on more than 70 nominees pending on the Senate Executive Calendar. A hold is when a senator — often anonymously — lets it be known he would oppose a unanimous consent request to bring a particular bill or nomination to the Senate floor.

Main Justice confirms that the reason for Shelby’s holds was pork projects:

The Alabama senator had held up the more than 70 nominees since Thursday over concerns he has about a tanker contract that could bring 1,500 jobs to Mobile, Ala., and over funds he is requesting to build an FBI counterterrorism center in his state. Northrop Grumman is vying to win the tanker contract, and if successful, would assemble the planes in Mobile.

Shelby's tactics remind me of something other than pork that is found in barnyards.

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According to this Washington Post article, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama is blocking all presidential nominees from Senate votes in an attempt to secure federal funding for two pork projects for Alabama. The block apparently applies to everything from Court of Appeals judges to more mundane positions within federal departments. According to the article:

Shelby is seeking funds for the KC-135 Air Force tanker fleet, a project that could generate thousands of jobs in Alabama. He is also demanding that the administration restore funding cut from the budget for the FBI's Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center, a facility to test defenses against the improvised bombs used in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Shelby placed the hold because of "unaddressed national security concerns," according to a statement released by his office. He "has made the administration aware of these concerns and is willing to discuss them at any time." The statement said Shelby was holding up "several" nominees, but the White House and Reid's office placed the number at more than 70.

Shelby’s tactic is an example of the partisanship that it significantly damaging our county. This type of partisanship is the reason that many Americans have such a negative opinion about Congress. Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the partisanship is that it continues despite the American people disliking it.

Republicans have made it clear that they are not going to work with the President under any circumstances. In doing so, Republicans are putting partisan politics over the American people. Republicans no doubt believe that this strategy will return the party to power in Washington (if they ever lost it). It will be sickening if they are right, since it will encourage more of the same in the future. 

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As Jeffrey Toobin asks where the judges are, this Houston Chronicle article from last week confirms that President Obama is dragging his feet at filling judicial vacancies and nominating U.S. Attorneys.

The stats tell the story. By this point in their administrations Presidents Clinton and W. Bush had nominated 75 and 66 U.S. Attorneys respectively. Obama has nominated only 42.Of the 42 that have been nominated, 31 have been confirmed.

The article notes that the failure to fill the slots has negative consequences:

“There's no real boss. It means what will be done is the routine. You need a guy who can move the team, and he has to be on the president's team,”

In Mississippi there have been no rumblings of political fights with respect to the vacant U.S. Attorney positions or the vacant U.S. District Court position and 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals position. Blaming Republicans for the slow pace at filling slots rings hallow when the administrations is going so slowly at making nominations and 75% of those nominated have been confirmed.

Like Mississippi, Texas has all its U.S. Attorney slots still open. The Chronicle article suggests that political fighting is the cause:

A classic political stalemate pitting Texas' Democratic congressional delegation and Obama's administration against Texas' pair of Republican senators is partly to blame for the slowed process here. Similar fights in other states, as well as an especially cautious presidential nominating process, have left most of the nation without freshly appointed lead federal prosecutors, who direct law enforcement priorities and approve work on the big projects.

People understand that the administration has been busy with the health care bill, the wars, the terrorist attack, etc.. But the White House has to be able to multi-task and get things done. If President Obama continues to delay in making nominations, then there will be a growing risk that Republicans can stall long enough to prevent Obama from filling all the vacancies that he inherited or came open in his first year. To Democrats, that would be unconscionable.

Adding to the frustration level for Democrats is that the President could fix the problem on his end in a matter of weeks. He could set a meeting date a few weeks out when Obama and his advisors would review the candidates for each vacancy and the President would make a decision. If the President does not have people working for him who can meet such a deadline, particularly after this long already, then he needs a better staff.

Democrats are frustrated. Republicans are giggling behind the President’s back and the President is starting to look like the Cowardly Lion and a possible one term president. That all needs to change in a hurry. 

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In this October post, I discussed the vacant 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals slot and mentioned Justice James Graves as a candidate to fill the position. Since then, President Obama’s administration has moved at its typical slow pace in filling the position. With the President’s White House Counsel leaving the administration at the end of the year, it appears unlikely that the announcement of a nominee is imminent.

It’s my understanding that Justice Graves remains on a growing list of candidates. Other names mentioned as candidates, in no particular order, include:

1. Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Winston Kidd,
2. Hinds County Chancery Court Judge Denise Owens,
3. former Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Robert Gibbs,
4. Jackson attorney Doug Minor,
5. Assistant U.S. Attorney Felicia Adams, and 
6. Circuit Court Judge Margaret Carey-McRae.

It sounds like Judge Winston Kidd is Congressman Bennie Thompson’s candidate. But each of the other candidates have their own supporters in political circles or the bar. I have not heard of Congressmen Gene Taylor or Travis Childers supporting a candidate. Taylor is known to stay out of appointment debates. Childers is rumored to have focused on pushing for Oxford attorney Christi McCoy to be named U.S. Attorney for the Northern District. But McCoy is unlikely to get the nod.

It is believed that some of the 5^th Circuit candidates have been interviewed over the phone by the White House.  

A huge question is when will the White House make an announcement. To see how long this could go on, look at the vacant U.S. District Court seat that has long been presumed to be going to Jackson attorney Carlton Reeves. The seat has been vacant for years and Reeves has been the only known candidate since Obama’s election more than a year ago. But the White House has yet to make an announcement and appears to be in no hurry to make an appointment.

If the White House follows a similar pace with the 5^th Circuit nominee, we will be still be talking about this vacancy this Summer, and perhaps later.

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Last Monday I reported that Keith Ball has been selected as the new Magistrate Judge for the Southern District. I had heard the news the previous Friday from someone who was not on the Magistrate Selection Panel.

Then last Wednesday I heard that one of the Southern District Judges was telling lawyers that no announcement had been made on the selection yet. 

But the Clarion-Ledger reported this morning that Judge Wingate confirmed that Keith Ball is the choice:

 U.S. District Judge Henry Wingate, chief judge for the Southern District, on Monday confirmed Ball's selection.

On another note, I saw a comment on another blog that Judge Winston Kidd's name has been submitted for the vacant 5th Circuit Court of Appeals seat. I'm not sure what the person meant by "submitted", but I do not believe it to be true unless he meant that Judge Kidd was one of many potential candidates submitted to the White House for consideration. 

It's my understanding that the White House is still in the vetting process and has not decided on a nominee.  The slow pace of President Obama filling judicial vacancies continues to receive national attention. The White House attorneys in charge of the selection and vetting process are leaving their posts soon, which threatens to further slow the process.

Every so often I am asked my opinion of what it might mean that there has been no announcement for the vacant Southern District Court or 5th Circuit positions. I do not believe that much should be read into it. The White House is just slow in this area. I would not read anything else into it until most of the other open slots around the country are filled with ours still open.

There could be announcements soon, or not for a long time. I don't think anyone really knows which it will be.

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It's only been a week and a half since my last post on the glacial pace of President Obama's judicial and U.S. Attorney appointments, but coverage is growing in the national media.

The process reminds me of the photo to the right.

On Monday I saw this Slate article tilted "The Bench in Purgatory." The Slate article blames Senate Republicans for the delays:

It seems clear that Senate Republicans are prepared to take the partisan war over the courts into uncharted territory—delaying up-or-down votes on the Senate floor for even the most qualified and uncontroversial of the president's judicial nominees.

The emerging Republican strategy is to hold these uncontroversial nominees hostage as pawns in the larger war over President Obama's agenda and the direction of the federal judiciary. The Senate operates according to a set of arcane rules that allows a minority party to bring the institution to a halt if it chooses to do so.

This afternoon the WSJ Law Blog had this article titled: "Blame Game: On Obama's Judicial and U.S. Attorney Nominees." The article cites the Slate article and comments:

But for now, what we can say from our own little corner of the world is that the process for replacing vacancies on the federal bench and among federal prosecutors hasn’t exactly been a quick one.

Last week I said this about the President's appointments and Republicans:

If the President thinks that Senate Republicans will give his nominations a pass because he appoints people his administration perceives as moderates, then he is kidding himself. Republicans play politics for keeps and are going to oppose the President's nominees for political reasons, regardless of who they are. 

It is going to take a long time for Obama to get his appointees through the Senate. The quicker the process starts the better.

My personal opinion is that if Senate Republicans are sandbagging votes on Obama's nominations, then it is a political mistake and symptomatic of a party that has lost its moorings. But regardless of that, I don't see how the White House can blame Republicans for the fact that the Obama is not making appointments. It's not the Republicans' fault that Obama has not nominated 57 of 90 U.S. Attorney slots or most of the 90-plus vacancies on the federal bench.  The fact that the Republicans are playing hard ball should make it easier to decide on nominees--not harder. If the Republicans are going to oppose everyone, then why spend time looking for someone who Republicans might agree to? To borrow a football analogy, it's time for the White House to make some half-time adjustments. They need to forget about the Republicans and make the nominations for these positions.

If the anniversary of Obama's inauguration arrives and there are still massive vacancies, look for Republicans to use it as evidence of the President's ineptness. It's time for the President to head the Republicans off at the pass and name appointees/ nominees for all vacant judicial and U.S. Attorney positions. Once that is done, then the President and Democrats can blame confirmation delays on Republicans.    

Finally, last night Mississippi blogger Will Bardwell had this post citing statistics that President Bush was slower filling appointments than Obama. Is that what we're already down to with Obama? Comparing his presidency to perhaps the worst president EVER?  I was hoping for a presidency that compared favorably with administrations that were significantly better than Bush's. 

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Today's Washington Post has this article about President Obama's tortoise-like pace for making appointments to the federal bench. Key points include:

During his first nine months in office, Obama has won confirmation in the Democratic-controlled Senate for just three of his 23 nominations for federal judgeships, largely because Republicans have used anonymous holds and filibuster threats to slow the proceedings to a crawl.

Some Republicans contend that the White House has hurt itself by its slow pace in sending over nominations for Senate consideration. President George W. Bush sent 95 names to the Senate in the same period that Obama has forwarded 23.

The White House predicts that nominations and confirmations will pick up soon.

But liberal activists argue that Obama needs to quicken the pace, partly for political reasons. "It is incumbent on the Democrats and the White House to push as hard as they can to confirm judicial nominees, given that next year Republicans will make an all-out effort to block candidates as a means to gin up their base before the election," said Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice, an advocacy organization.

I agree that the President is moving too slowly. I'm not seeing any caution. Even if there is caution, it is misplaced. If the President thinks that Senate Republicans will give his nominations a pass because he appoints people his administration perceives as moderates, then he is kidding himself. Republicans play politics for keeps and are going to oppose the President's nominees for political reasons, regardless of who they are. 

It is going to take a long time for Obama to get his appointees through the Senate. The quicker the process starts the better. Nine months have already been wasted. Obama does not have three more years to get his appointments through. He has about two, since Senate Republicans will go into the four-corners during the election year in hopes of winning the election and gaining the appointments.

 I read somewhere that President Bush took little interest in his judicial appointments. That makes it even more galling that his administration was more efficient at making appointments than Obama's. The President taught Constitutional law. You would have thought that he would make naming his appointments and getting them confirmed a priority.  

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There is a rare opening on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals with Judge Rhesa Barksdale taking senior status. President Obama will appoint someone to fill the seat. For a while it sounded like the appointment would go to someone from Louisiana. Later, I heard that Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana all had a shot at the seat.

I am now hearing that the White House is seriously looking at several candidates from Mississippi. The most prominent name that I am hearing as a candidate is Mississippi Supreme Court Justice James Graves. Justice Graves is qualified with eight years on the Supreme Court and experience as a trial judge before that.

You would expect there to be many people maneuvering to influence who gets this major appointment. A lot will depend on what the White House is looking for in court of appeals judges. If it is looking for someone in their fifties, then it will be tough to beat Justice Graves. President Bush often opted to fill appointments with young people who would likely hold the position for thirty years or more. Examples include Judge Sul Ozerden and Judge Dan Jordan. We do not know enough about President Obama yet to conclude if he will follow a similar strategy. All we really know is that Obama is moving slowly at making Mississippi appointments such as U.S. Attorneys, Marshals and Judge Barbour's District Judge seat.

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A few weeks ago in this post I speculated that 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Rhesa Barksdale would soon take senior status. The Clarion-Ledger confirmed the news in this article today. Judge Barksdale will continue to work, but will hear a reduced case load.

This creates an opening on the 5th Circuit. Currently on the 5th Circuit from Mississippi are Barksdale, Judge Grady Jolly and Judge Leslie Southwick. Since all three are conservative, the vacancy gives President Obama the chance to appoint the only non-conservative Mississippian on the 5th Circuit. But I am hearing that a Mississippian may not get the slot at all with it instead going to someone from Louisiana. I hope that is not the case.

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It's been six months since the inauguration of President Obama and he has nominated only three of seventy-nine open federal judge positions. This website lists each open position and its status. I heard that Obama would be more interested in federal judge positions than President Bush, because President and Mrs. Obama are both lawyers. But this supposed interest has not translated into speed in filling vacancies.

Judge Barbour took senior status three years ago and we are still waiting on the confirmation of a replacement. At the end of Bush's term he nominated a Meridian lawyer, but the Senate never confirmed him. All indications are that Obama will nominate Jackson lawyer Carlton Reeves for the position, but no one seems to know when the nomination will occur.

On a related topic, by all accounts Judge Barksdale will take senior status with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in the near future. While it's natural to conclude that his replacement will be from Mississippi, I am hearing that there is a likelihood that the nomination will go to a Louisiana lawyer or judge recommended by Senator Mary Landrieu (D). This would be a real blow to Mississippi and much less likely to occur if one of Mississippi's senators was a Democrat.