US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals

There's lots of brouhaha in the US Senate right now with conservative Republicans threatening to do away with the filibuster to keep Democrats from blocking Bush’s court nominations. A group of moderates from both parties have made a compromise to keep the filibuster as an option (to the dismay of the horrid Dr. Dobson who apparently believes the filibuster is an abomination in the eyes of the Lord—not sure where it says that in the Bible, but…)

The bad news is that now Priscilla Owen and host of other questionable judicial candidates will likely be ascending to high courts throughout the country. Priscilla Owen (who is against abortion, civil rights and environmental protections and has no qualms about using her personal values, rather than precedent or the letter of the law, in forming her judicial opinions) is of particular interest because she has been nominated to the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is right here in New Orleans.

The Fifth Circuit doesn’t get much local press, but its presence here is significant for lots of people, including law students and recent graduates, who potentially have the opportunity to clerk on a high level federal court without leaving New Orleans.

I’m not an expert, but I understand the Fifth Circuit put a lot of the muscle behind the civil rights legislation of the 1960s, so it has a pretty honorable history. Today, however, even without Priscilla Owen, it is a problematic court. It seems to get its wrist slapped by the Supreme Court on a regular basis, particularly over appeals of Texas death penalty verdicts. The Texas courts, of course, believe in toasting just about anyone they can get their hands on. If appealed, those death penalty cases eventually end up in front of the Fifth Circuit, which can be relied on to uphold the original decision, even if the convicted party is a retarded 12-year-old or if the evidence is pretty strong that someone else did the crime. At least, for now, the Supreme Court can be counted on to keep the Fifth Circuit in line.

I’m still interested in trying to get a clerkship at the court, it’s just going to take some figuring out which judges are alright and which to avoid. Judge Owen will be one to stay away from.