Trump Judicial Nominee Mocks Gay Marriage, Racial Diversity, and Justice Kennedy

You can listen the full audio recordings here and here.

(Washington, DC, March 21, 2018) – Today, Lambda Legal led 40 national, state, and local LGBT organizations in urging the U.S. Senate to reject the nomination of Gordon Giampietro to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin and asked the White House to immediately withdraw the nomination.

In a letter to the Senate, the organizations detail multiple disqualifying statements made by Mr. Giampietro where he mocks Justice Anthony Kennedy, ridicules racial diversity, and calls same-sex marriage “an assault on nature…against God’s plan.” BuzzFeed News was first to report the statements that Mr. Giampietro failed to disclose in his application to the Wisconsin Federal Nominating Commission. Ms. Barbara Quindel, a member of Wisconsin’s bipartisan federal nominating commission who considered his application stated that, had the commission known of these comments during the process, Mr. Giampietro’s name would not have been advanced. Thousands of people from across the country have already called on the White House to withdraw his nomination.

The organizations also explain that, “Mr. Giampietro’s appointment to the bench would cause grave harm to the LGBT community, as well as many other communities who rely on the federal judiciary to administer fair and impartial justice.  Unlike attorneys who seek to claim that they were merely advancing the views of their client, Mr. Giampietro has expended significant personal effort to promote discrimination against LGBT people.  And his false, hateful, and derogatory statements about vulnerable minorities make Mr. Giampietro demonstrably unfit for a job as a federal judge.  More than just a lack of knowledge and temperament, Mr. Giampietro’s comments reveal a level of ideological fervor that is incompatible with judicial service.”

The letter goes on to highlight two key reasons why Mr. Giampietro’s nomination must be withdrawn arguing that, “Mr. Giampietro seems to combine the worst traits of two failed nominees.  Like Jeff Mateer, whose nomination failed to move forward because of his transphobic and homophobic speeches, Mr. Giampietro has repeatedly broadcasted his hostility toward LGBT people and rights.  And like Brett Talley, who failed to disclose relevant information on his Senate questionnaire, Mr. Giampietro failed to disclose key materials on the application he filed with Wisconsin’s Federal Nominating Commission.”

“The American people want judges who are fair-minded constitutionalists and who value equality and justice for all – simple as that,” said Sharon McGowan, Director of Strategy at Lambda Legal. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that Mr. Giampietro lacks the credibility and integrity to be an impartial judge and we certainly should not reward him for misleading the Wisconsin Federal Nominating Commission and the people of Wisconsin. When the White House, Senate Republicans, and the Heritage Foundation put forward nominees like Gordon Giampietro, it amounts to nothing more than a waste of taxpayer dollars.”

Mr. Giampietro expressed multiple views about the marriage equality decision in Obergefell v. Hodges during two undisclosed interviews with host Lydia LoCoco. In the July 24th interview, the Mr. Giampietro stated that, “Justice Kennedy went off the rails years ago, in Lawrence against Texas,” and called same-sex marriage “an assault on nature…against God’s plan.” During the July 4th interview, Mr. Giampietro stated that, "This new definition of marriage actually focuses marriage on the sex act. Because if it were simply that we wanted to honor the love of two people, we would allow sons to marry their mothers, brothers to marry their sisters, for example, to get them healthcare. Isn’t that a beautiful thing? Doesn’t society think that would be a great thing, for a sister to get her brother on healthcare?"

In addition, Giampietro has made disturbing comments in blog posts about what he calls a “racial spoils system;” writing about the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he claimed that “calls for diversity” are “code for relaxed standards.” He has also said in interviews that he, “grew up next to lawyers, architects and crack dealers…The common denominator [he] saw was that the children who succeeded in Washington, [DC] were in private schools, and the children who turned out to be criminals were in public schools."