Will Bardwell went to Washington and observed confirmation hearing for Justice Graves in the Fifth Circuit; he’s written about it on Twitter, on his blog, and for the Daily Journal. He describes some of the hearing, which was attended by Senators Al Franken, John Cornyn, and Jeff Sessions. Justice Graves was introduced by Mississippi Senators Wicker and Cochran (on his blog, Bardwell says that Wicker used the word “enthusiastic” in endorsing Graves).
The First Amendment issues debated over the last week after a post on Volokh’s blog did not come up.
Bardwell describes the hearing:
And for five minutes after that, Franken mostly treated the nominee to softball questions, such as whether Graves – the first black Mississippian nominated to the Fifth Circuit in that court’s 119-year history – would be able to transition to the federal judiciary from a long career in state court. Graves, a graduate of Millsaps College and the Syracuse University College of Law, spoke quickly through the first few moments of his initial response, but he quickly recovered his typically cool pace.
Sessions was a different story. The committee’s ranking member, himself a casualty of a 1986 confirmation hearing for his failed nomination to the federal bench, quizzed Graves for 10 minutes regarding a post-conviction case named Doss v. State, which Graves and his colleagues twice considered before vacating the man’s death sentence in 2009.
During the Court’s first examination of Doss in late 2008, Graves joined the opinion of then-Presiding Justice Oliver Diaz, who argued that the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment forbade capital punishment in any case.
Sessions began by asking whether Graves believed, as Diaz wrote, that the definition of “cruel and unusual punishment” changes with time. He continued by asking whether a court answering that question should rely, even in part, on international law.
Each time, Graves parried by assuring Sessions that, as a member of a lower court, he would bind himself to the decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court. As evidence of that deference, Graves told the stridently pro-death penalty senator that he had voted to affirm capital sentences in no fewer than a dozen cases.
Ultimately, faced directly with the question of whether his view is that the Constitution forbids executions, Graves answered simply, “It is not” – a response that seemed to satisfy the Alabama senator’s questions.
The Clarion Ledger has a straightforward story from the Gannet Washington bureau.
Graves, Graves now where have I heard this name before???
Let’s have a “now that Graves appears likely, whom will Barbour put in his MSSC seat?” thread.
My usual source isn’t hearing anything, or isn’t talking.
Has to be central district.
Primeaux from Meridian would put a 2d chancellor on the court. Quite the stickler.
Or does the replacement “have to be” black?
Primeaux beat that monster Sarah Springer. He’s my personal hero.
Also, bloggers are seriously underrepresented on the Court.
Anderson, I don’t think he “has to be black” but it SEEMS that district trends toward “minority majority” (Anderson, Banks, Graves). So IF the guv cares that his appointee is able to be re-elected he should consider that ability in his choice.
Would it be unreasonable to speculate that the “enthusiastic” endorsement from Sen. Wicker (not to mention the endorsement from Sen. Cochran) suggests that the Gov. has put out the word he wants to be able to make that appointment, so get him confirmed?
Or that the Gov. might possibly see this as a chance to send a message to the nation (relating to his contemplated prez run and comments about him & Mississippi and race) by appointing a black to the seat?
let’s hope it’s not a conservative one. The mountain is already steep enough.
One of the things that makes Barbour truly effective is that he’s smart. Remember his appointing Pierce Chancellor and getting him out of his way in the legislature?
I’m quite confident he can find a sufficiently conservative minority appointee to gild his civil rights credentials while still satisfying his otherwise conservative requirements. There aren’t many out there but they do exist, Clarence Thomas being a case in point.
Has the guv appointed ANY African Americans to judicial seats? I know there was some flack awhile back by the legislative black caucus, but can’t remember the outcome. He implied that his screening cmte. hadn’t received any “qualified” A-A aplicants.
One I think?
I don’t care how enthusiastic Wicker and Cochran are in committee hearings. I’ll eat my hat if the Republicans let a left-of-center African-American get a lifetime seat on the Fifth Circuit without putting up a huge fight and holding up the nomination for a year or more. If nothing else, Grand Mullah DeMint from South Carolina has already put a blanket hold on everything the Democrats propose to do between now and January, 2011.
Barbour appointed Malcolm Harrison to Delaughter’s seat. He’s up for election in November against Bill Gowan. I worked with Bill Gowan once and I have never met a lazier human being.
thanks for the info, Jane.
Anderson, @ 10:19 I’d have to agree with you on bloggers woes. It’s like facing lawlessness by DHS regarding your child then having the same tactic attempted years later using your grandchildren. To bad for the Department of Harrassing Services the children aren’t adopted by the target as to not directly involve anothers attempts to make additional use of such underrepresentations.
Keeping in line to the present needs of the state court I nominate the following to the position which may possibly be vacated by Justice Graves.
Justice Scruggs, DeLaughter, Green, Larry, Curly or Moe.
Robert, particularly your first paragraph is incomprehensible.
Please keep in mind the commenting guidelines and don’t be repetitive.