For 62 federal trial judge openings in the South, Bush has nominated ZERO African-Americans

[Doondoo]

In nine of 11 Southern states, President George W. Bush has never nominated an African-American for any of 62 openings for federal trial court judgeships, according to federal court data.

In his home state of Texas, the president has not nominated a single black judge to the federal bench in 18 nominations sent to the Senate during the past six years, according to Leslie Proll, director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund's Washington office.

The lack of black nominees has caused some African-American lawyers to express concern that retiring black judges appointed years ago will leave a new crop of Southern lawyers who may never see a black judge on the federal bench.

Mississippi and Alabama have not had a black judge appointed in more than 20 years, a situation Proll called, "very egregious. So many of the Carter judges are leaving the court through death or retirement. Generations are changing on the bench, and nobody is following them," she said.

In Alabama, where all nine Bush nominees have been white, U.S. Rep. Artur Davis, D-Ala., said, "It is inconceivable to me that there has not been a black judge of caliber to serve on the federal bench in the last 20 years.

"The first thing you hear is they can't find anyone qualified. That is not plausible, given the number of black lawyers in the state," Davis said.


http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1171360971905

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. kick

[ck4829]

2. K&R

[Gman]

3. Yeah, well

there's only so many Black Republicans. Pretty small pool, if any. I'm not surprised. Of course, this doesn't justify it but Bush damn sure isn't going to nominate anyone other than a fundie radical nutcase.

[EffieBlack]

5. There is a significant pool of excellent Republican African American lawyers he could draw from

This is a convenient, but invalid excuse.

And all of Bush's black judges have not been right wing nutcases. For example, Allyson Duncan, a North Carolina lawyer, was nominated to the Fourth Circuit, with full support from John Edwards and has turned out to be an excellent judge.

There are plenty of solid black lawyers Bush could nominate. He has just chosen not to.

[tuvor]

6. Welcome to DU, EffieBlack!

Thank you for the enlightenment.

:hi:

[wakeme2008]

4. kick and nom nt

[sutz12]

7. Gee, why am I not surprised?

:shrug:

[chiffon]

8. What a simply appalling statistic.

Thanks for posting this.

[Doondoo]

9. When you're from the South it's a normal statistic