Senator Mitch McConnell continued his push to deliver to President Trump four highly controversial, anti-civil rights, and anti-LGBT judicial nominees to federal courts of appeals.
Casting aside even the appearance of careful deliberation, the Senate today confirmed the remaining two nominees placed on the agenda for this week – Allison H. Eid to the U.S. Court of Appeals to the Tenth Circuit and Stephanos Bibas to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
While she “eschews labels,” Justice Eid has been described in the Denver Post as being cut from the same cloth as Justices Scalia and Thomas, whose “originalist” philosophy would essentially write LGBT people out of the Constitution. And, Professor Bibas has criticized those who “pursue equality judicially,” claiming that it “undervalues America’s deep commitments to federalism, localism, and democratic self-government.”
Eid and Bibas will now join on the federal bench Amy Coney Barrett who was confirmed to the Seventh Circuit and Joan Larsen who was confirmed to the Sixth Circuit, both this week
Meanwhile, the Senate Judiciary Committee began the confirmation process yesterday for two more controversial nominees to the federal bench, the first of which received a unanimous “not qualified” ranking by the American Bar Association – Steven Grasz for the Eighth Circuit and Mark Norris for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. More information about Grasz can be found here, and more information about Norris can be found here.
Sharon McGowan, Lambda Legal’s Director of Strategy, issued the following statement:
Those Senators who voted this week to confirm these four judicial nominations are complicit in the efforts of this administration to write LGBT people out of the Constitution for generations by continuing to stack the federal courts with judges whose rhetoric, record and ideologies will destroy civil rights in this country.
Allison Eid had the opportunity to take a stand against and disavow the inflammatory language used by Justices Scalia and Thomas in their dissents in major LGBT civil rights cases, and yet she refused. Stephanos Bibas has likewise denigrated those who turn to the courts for the vindication of their rights, and made other statements revealing a gross lack of judgment and questionable ethical compass.
We all deserve better than this.
We deserve better than a Senate Majority Leader who will push through four nominees in one week with minimal opportunity for debate. We deserve better than a Senate Judiciary Committee who will rubberstamp anyone the president sends them regardless of their proven racist, homophobic, and misogynistic record. The trajectory of civil rights, progress and equality for the next several generations are at stake, and we all need to pay attention and demand better.
