Mississippi Legal News of Note

Couple of items I wanted to make sure and pass along in case you had missed them

- Ann Hannaford Lamar of Senatobia was appointed to the Mississippi Supreme Court by Governor Haley Barbour to fill departing Justice Kay Cobb's Northern District post. Lamar is a former Circuit Court Judge for the 17th district and former District Attorney. I know very little about Lamar but she looks qualified and has stayed out of the news for anything that might be considered "bad". On a personal not I would like to say I am glad Barbour appointed a female to replace the only female that was on the Court. I'm not a huge feminist supporter but females make up half of the population of the State there should be at least one on the State's Supreme Court.

- former Court of Appeals Judge and current nominee to the 5th Circuit, Leslie Southwick, has had his confirmation process started with the often contentious questioning before the Senate Judiciary Committee. According to some news articles opposite has arisen due to votes Southwick made while on the Court of Appeals. Southwick responded with [paraphrasing] I voted with an opinion that accurately reflected what the law in Mississippi states. I understand the groups that disagree with what these cases held and don't like Southwick's voting (not authoring) these opinions but a Judge's job is to rule on what is the law, not to make the law and if the law is not unconstitutional then there is not much the judge can do; and further if the law is not challenged as being unconstitutional they shouldn't even consider that. I'm not sure of the background on these complaints but what I have seen looks like certain groups are trying to make a problem where there is none to be made. For more discussion on this nomination I recommend googling Judge Southwick's name and there are many articles and blogs out there this week.