Trump and McConnell Continue their “Quiet Assault” on the Judiciary

WASHINGTON, D.C. —Caroline Fredrickson, President of the American Constitution Society, issued the following statement ahead of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s February 7, 2019 confirmation vote on 42 Trump judicial nominees:

“President Trump and Senator McConnell are engaged in a quiet assault on the American judiciary. While everyone is talking about government shutdown, border walls, and presidential tweets, the President and Senate Majority leader have been working tirelessly to install far-right judges on our nation’s court, the impact of which will be felt for generations.

“Congressional activity may be at a standstill, but that has not stopped conservatives from setting the stage for potentially devastating future court decisions on many of the rights and freedoms we hold dear. Women’s rights, workers’ rights, immigrant rights, LGBTQ freedoms, all could be threatened. It is the far right’s strategy for achieving judicially that which they have been unable to achieve legislatively.

“Make no mistake: The President’s nominees are well out of the mainstream, with views on everything from presidential power to minority rights that would make the average American cringe. Some have even earned a ‘not qualified’ rating from the American Bar Association. Yet they still make it onto the bench as Senator McConnell rushes them through a corrupted process that casts asides many of the norms of previous judicial nominations processes.

“Today’s markup of more than 40 judges is one of the biggest in recent memory and another example of the zeal with which the President and Senator McConnell are moving to reshape the American judiciary in a manner not reflective of America’s respect for individual freedoms or its ever-increasing diversity.”

Contact: William Lutz, media@acslaw.org.

AMERICAN CONSTITUTION SOCIETY
Founded in 2001, the American Constitution Society (ACS) is a leading progressive legal organization and network of attorneys, law students, scholars, judges, policymakers, and other concerned individuals, dedicated to making the law a force to improve people’s lives. For more information, visit us at www.acslaw.org or on Twitter at @acslaw. You can also follow Caroline Fredrickson on Twitter @crfredrickson. Read the latest from ACS on the Monster Markup on ACSblog and view our data tracking judicial vacancies and nominations.