Vote on Southwick likely next week

The most heated judicial fight of the 110th Congress could take place on the Senate floor next week, with the chamber likely to vote on the controversial nomination of Leslie Southwick for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit.
            
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Friday that he would likely schedule the vote for “sometime next week” because Republicans have signaled that they “want to move on” the nomination, which the Judiciary Committee in August approved by the narrowest of margins. Sen. Dianne
Feinstein (D-Calif.) sided with all the committee’s Republicans to send the nomination to the floor by a 10-9 vote.
            
{mosads}Democrats and liberal activist groups argue that Southwick has a hostile record towards homosexuals and blacks, which they say is particularly problematic in the New Orleans-based court that hears many civil rights cases. But Republicans and their conservative allies say that critics have distorted a handful of opinions that he joined — though did not author — to attack a well-qualified nominee.
            
The vote will likely be close. Republicans say they appear to have a majority support in the Senate for the nomination, but are not sure if they have the 60 votes that appear to be needed for his confirmation.