WASHINGTON, D.C. – The United States Senate confirmed Judge Leslie Southwick to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals today, Senators Thad Cochran and Trent Lott announced. The President nominated Southwick January to fill the slot that has been vacant on the panel since the completion of Judge Charles W. Pickering's recess appointment on December 8, 2004.
“I am very pleased the Senate has confirmed this nominee,” Senator Cochran said. “Judge Southwick is imminently qualified to serve on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. Not only is he an experienced judge in an appellate court position, but he is a widely respected person of great integrity. Judge Southwick’s record of service to our country and to the people of Mississippi is exemplary. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will be enhanced by his presence.”
“The Senate carefully looked at the record and the temperament of Judge Leslie Southwick today and agreed with the Mississippians who know him so well that he will be an outstanding addition to the 5thCircuit Court of Appeals,” Senator Lott said. “Judge Southwick is a scholar, a distinguished veteran, a compassionate civic leader and an outstanding jurist. My colleagues in the Senate understood that, and that is why they brought bipartisan deliberation back to the Senate today with his confirmation. This is a good day for the Senate and portends an air of comity I thought we had lost. I am encouraged about the body in which we serve.”
Southwick, who currently works as an adjunct professor at the Mississippi College School of Law, served from 1995 until 2006 on the Mississippi Court of Appeals. He previously served as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division, for the U.S. Department of Justice.
Southwick has also served in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps with the U.S. Army Reserves and as an instructor at both the Mississippi National Guard and the United States Military Academy at West Point.
The jurisdiction of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals covers Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas.
