WASHINGTON—The U.S. Senate confirmed Judge Leslie Southwick to the New Orleans-based federal appeals court Oct. 24 despite complaints by black and gay civil rights advocates.

Supporters of Southwick’s nomination said the vote should only have been about his qualifications, not the history of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.

Urged by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the AFL-CIO and the Congressional Black Caucus, some Senate Democrats who opposed the nomination made their case nonetheless. They said they didn’t believe Southwick is a bigot, but that the 5th Circuit could not afford a judge who has less than an “exemplary” record on civil rights.

At issue were two cases he was involved in as a state appeals court judge in Mississippi. One was a 1998 decision that upheld the reinstatement of a social worker who used a racial slur in reference to a co-worker. Three years later, Southwick joined a ruling against a bisexual mother in a custody case. He also joined what some activists said was an anti-gay concurring opinion.