Can a circuit court nominee get in trouble for a record as a state appellate judge in which he a) once joined a majority opinion written by another judge in which the terribly shocking phrase “homosexual lifestyle” appears, and b) joined another such opinion that upheld a state agency’s decision not to fire a woman who used the word “nigger” once and apologized for it?

If he’s a nominee in the last two years of a Republican administration when Democrats hold the Senate, you bet he can. The judge is Mississippian Leslie Southwick, and the Wall Street Journal is on the case today.