Stephanie Tubbs Jones: “I thank Ms. Jackson-Lee for her leadership on these issues and for joining me during the Congressional Black Caucus…”

“I thank Ms. Jackson-Lee for her leadership on these issues and for joining me during the Congressional Black Caucus hour. Let me talk about Judge Southwick for just a few minutes, and then I would like to review some of the progress that has been made under the leadership of our Chair, Ms. Kilpatrick, in the 110th Congress. As we were talking about Judge Southwick, you have to understand this will be the first controversial judicial nomination considered by the Senate since Democrats took the majority. It has been 10 months since the Senate changed hands, and the people expect a difference in the way judicial nominations are handled. We don't want to go back to the way they were handled under the Republican leadership. The Congressional Black Caucus and the civil rights groups warned the Senate about Roberts and Alito, yet they were both confirmed. The first full Supreme Court term of the Roberts court showed that we are able to predict how judges will act or respond on civil rights cases once confirmed. To confirm a lower court judge in the face of a bad record on civil rights will simply be too much to bear.”