A week after the 64th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to advance the nominations of Wendy Vitter and Andrew Oldham, who each refused to endorse the Court’s momentous ruling. Todd A. Cox, Policy Director at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), provided the following statement:
“The refusal of Wendy Vitter and Andrew Oldham to endorse the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education is a judicial dog-whistle and should be disqualifying. By advancing these unacceptable nominees a week after the 64th anniversary of the Court’s watershed ruling, members of the Senate Judiciary Committee denigrate the historic Brown decision – a central component of the legal canon. As Vitter and Oldham’s nomination move on to the full Senate, we call on Senators to stand up not just for civil rights, but for the rule of law. Supporting the Brown decision must be a prerequisite for a lifetime seat on the federal bench, and the Senate can make that clear by voting no on these unfit nominees.”
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Founded in 1940, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is the nation’s first civil and human rights law organization and has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund or LDF.
