Patsy Brumfield has some very interesting news, and in at least one case, I know enough to hope hard that she’s right:
As the U.S. attorney guessing game continues, two women’s names keep bubbling to the top of some lists.
They’re Christi R. McCoy of Oxford and Constance Slaughter-Harvey of Forest.
Neither returned Daily Journal phone calls to comment Wednesday. Mississippi has never had a female U.S. attorney. …
[P]ublic speculation has centered on choices coming from Democratic Reps. Bennie Thompson of Bolton and [Travis Childers of Booneville]. …
Slaughter-Harvey has known Thompson since their student days at Tougaloo College and has been an ally on numerous political pursuits through the years.
In 1970, she was the first black woman to graduate from the University of Mississippi Law School and is a former assistant secretary of state for elections.
She has a solo law practice in Forest, her hometown.
McCoy, who is white, earned bachelor’s and law degrees from Ole Miss. She joined the Mississippi Bar soon after her graduation in 1994.
A former Booneville municipal judge, she has her own law practice in Oxford. She also worked with the firm Langston Frazer Sweet & Freese.
Pretty dang good foloer too. We’re mighty proud of her work for Olive Branch police officer Adam McHann back in January, and of course you recall that these days she’s representing Steve Patterson. (So if she gets the job, either the announcement will keep until Patterson’s play in Scruggs and DeLaughter is complete, or the new USA may have to recuse herself from the latter prosecution.)
Booneville’s Ronald Michael (close to Travis Childers and mentioned as a front-runner for months) told Patsy he’s taken himself out of consideration, saying, “It just wasn’t the right time in my life to make this move” and that he’s “heard McCoy prominently mentioned for the North Mississippi post.”
“It’s really such an honor to be considered,” he said.
You bet it is. Maybe some of y’all from the Southern District can fill us in on Slaughter-Harvey? I do know that if the Northern ends up in Christi McCoy’s hands, we can rest assured about the quality of federal justice pursued there.
UPDATE: See today’s WaPo for a related story.
Slaughter-Harvey is not only the first African-American woman to graduate from Ole Miss law, she was the first African American woman to be licensed to practice in Mississippi. Her life story is an amazing story that includes some heartache and tragedy but the overarching theme of her life is triumph and joy. Her legal experience is vast. She has the ability to see all sides of a case at once. She would make a great US Attorney. She would make an even better United States Supreme Court Justice.
I guess there were no former partners of Paul Minor available for the Southern post…
Patsy Brumfeld recently wrote about our first black USA.
http://www.djournal.com/pages/archive.asp?ID=283840
Buchanan was an inspiration. Slaughter-Harvey or McCoy (like Buchanan) will bring change to the Karl Rove-Ken Starr political shop of North Mississippi.
What about the other choices like Kelly Mims & Lawrence Deas ? They are very experienced lawyers from Tupelo. I have never heard of Mccoy. I am sure she is a nice lady.
denissmyth @ 3: I respectfully disagree. Though I like and respect Mr. Buchanan on a personal level, this observer’s opinion is that his tenure as USA was divisive and somewhat corrosive.
With respect to either Ms. Slaughter-Harvey or Ms. McCoy, both would make outstanding selections.
bigdemocrat @ 4: Your remark tells me that you are unaware of who does or tries what kinds of cases in these parts. Not taking anything away from either Kelly or Lawrence, who are good lawyers in their own right, neither of them could match Ms. McCoy’s breadth of experience civil or criminal in the federal courts.
And no, Ms. McCoy will gouge your eyes out if the requirements of the case call for it. Otherwise, you’re quite right . . . she’s very nice.
Wow! I see you for Mccoy & that is great.I have nothing negative to say about Mccoy .Mr Mims tries many many cases as a public defender . A public defender has to work just as hard if not harder that the one prosecuting the cases & has less evidence to work with. As to Mr Deas he also works in all types of courts on sorts of cases. He is highly intelligent & he graduated from Yale & University of Va law school.Last time I checked you have to be a near genius to even get accepted to these schools. I am not arguing that she is not at all a great lawyer. I just think everyone needs to be included in this process that is qualified.
We don’t disagree then . . . but who is not being included? Certainly not Kelly or Lawrence since their names were prominently mentioned right off the bat.
And truth be told, very many qualified individuals will never be considered because of the inherently political nature of the process. No surprise there or problem with that.
bigd, Christi McCoy is a federal public defender too (or has been recently, I guess she still is).
Glad to hear these good things about everybody. (Crispin, voice of experience there, bro?)
Why don’t you check that out & reply to us with the correct job title. I think you are incorrect.
bigd 9, which “you” are you addressing?
Where does Mccoy work & what does she do ?
Scroll up a few inches to the post, bigd.
That is great news- Christie would make an outstanding choice. Great lawyer and very nice lady. I never thought of her as a candidate since she looks very young, but she apparently graduated law school in 1994 so is older than I thought.