DiFi gets in bed with Republicans... and Likes it.

(Note:  This has already been diaried by demonds and SoDak Patriot.. thank you... but this needs to keep getting mentioned, I am beyond outraged)

Last week, the San Francisco Chronicle had an article about conservatives singing the praises of Sen. Dianne Feinstein regarding her support to free two U.S. border agents convicted of shooting a suspected drug smuggler.  Now, if conservatives are singing my praises, I probably need to take a shower.

Apparently, she liked the attention though, because on Thursday, she cast the tie-breaking vote on the Senate Judiciary Panel to move Leslie Southwick's nomination to the Fifth U.S. Court of Appeals to a vote in the full Senate.

Just who is Leslie Southwick?

In 1998, Southwick joined a ruling in an employment case that upheld the reinstatement, without any punishment whatsoever, of a white state employee who was fired for calling an African American co-worker a “good ole nigger.” The court’s decision effectively ratified a hearing officer’s opinion that the slur was only “somewhat derogatory” and “was in effect calling the individual a ‘teacher’s pet.’” The Mississippi Supreme Court unanimously reversed the decision.

In 2001, Southwick joined a ruling that upheld a chancellor’s decision to take an eight-year-old girl away from her mother and award custody to the father, who had never married the mother, largely because the mother was living with another woman in a “lesbian home.” Southwick went even further by joining a gratuitously anti-gay concurrence which extolled Mississippi’s right under “the principles of Federalism” to treat “homosexual persons” as second-class citizens. The concurrence suggested that sexual orientation is a choice and stated that an adult is not “relieved of the consequences of his or her choice” – e.g. losing custody of one’s child.

LNK wrote here on May 31 asking everyone to contact their Senators and have them oppose this nomination.  I have to admit, I did not do anything because there was no way on this earth DiFi would vote for this person.  I mean he believed that it was OK to treat homosexuals and African Americans as second-class citizens.  I was sooooooo wrong and I apologize.  I shouldn't take anything for granted.

Today's San Francisco Chronicle has an article about the backlash DiFi is getting.

Some highlights:

"This was a test of whether Democrats were up to the task of applying scrutiny to Bush's judicial nominees," Nan Aron, president of Alliance for Justice, an association of civil rights, consumer advocates and other liberal groups, said Friday in criticizing Feinstein's vote on Leslie Southwick's nomination to a federal appeals court.

Gays and lesbians in California "are not going to be silent about this," added Becky Dansky of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, who said Feinstein had usually been a reliable ally. Feinstein said she respected her critics but disagreed with them about Southwick.

Her vote was condemned by some of her usual allies, including many members of the Congressional Black Caucus, who held a news conference Thursday evening. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, warned of possible political consequences for Feinstein, who was elected to a third six-year term last year. She has not said whether she will seek another term in 2012, when she will be 79.

If Feinstein "continues to relate to this caucus in the way she's been doing ... we will have no alternative but to not only share this information, but to fight against her coming back to the United States Senate," Waters said.

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, also at the news conference, said she was "doubly disappointed that a senator from my home state, Sen. Feinstein, would vote with the Republicans to bring the Southwick nomination to the Senate floor."

Doesn't sound like she made many friends with this vote.  Oh, wait, here's one:

Bush issued a statement calling the committee approval "a refreshing victory for the American judicial system."

What was Dianne Feinstein's reasoning for voting for a bigot to sit on the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals?

"Judge Southwick is a qualified, circumspect person," Feinstein said. "I don't believe he's a racist. ... I believe he made a mistake" in a handful of opinions.

Oh, that's OK then.

I will be contacting Dianne Feinstein's office expressing my "disappontment" with her vote.  This is going to the full Senate, everyone needs to contact their senators and urge them to vote no.

UPDATE #1.

My email to Dianne Feinstein's office:

I cannot understand your Judiciary Committee vote approving Leslie Southwick's appt. to the Fifth U.S. Court of Appeals. You had the ability to stop a racist and a bigot from this appt and chose not to.  

I know you're aware of Leslie Southwick's racist and bigoted decisions, but I'll list them again.

"In 1998, Southwick joined a ruling in an employment case that upheld the reinstatement, without any punishment whatsoever, of a white state employee who was fired for calling an African American co-worker a “good ole nigger.” The court’s decision effectively ratified a hearing officer’s opinion that the slur was only “somewhat derogatory” and “was in effect calling the individual a ‘teacher’s pet.’” The Mississippi Supreme Court unanimously reversed the decision.

In 2001, Southwick joined a ruling that upheld a chancellor’s decision to take an eight-year-old girl away from her mother and award custody to the father, who had never married the mother, largely because the mother was living with another woman in a “lesbian home.” Southwick went even further by joining a gratuitously anti-gay concurrence which extolled Mississippi’s right under “the principles of Federalism” to treat “homosexual persons” as second-class citizens. The concurrence suggested that sexual orientation is a choice and stated that an adult is not “relieved of the consequences of his or her choice” – e.g. losing custody of one’s child."

Your statement in today's San Francisco Chronicle that,

"Judge Southwick is a qualified, circumspect person," Feinstein said. "I don't believe he's a racist. ... I believe he made a mistake" in a handful of opinions."

Tells me you are either at best naive or at worst.. well, I don't know, you tell me...

I have to agree with Maxine Waters when she says if you "continue to relate to this caucus in the way she's been doing ... we will have no alternative but to not only share this information, but to fight against her coming back to the United States Senate,".  and will work with her to unseat you.

I'll update with her reply....