The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) sent a letter to Senator Mitch McConnell and Senator Charles Schumer denouncing the use of a “consent package” to confirm a group of 19 judicial nominees with one vote. Consent packages fast-track judicial nominees and allow the Senate to bypass their due diligence. Nearly a dozen of the nominees currently being advanced failed to unequivocally affirm that the landmark Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education was correctly decided. The critical 1954 case struck down the “separate but equal” doctrine that upheld segregation in the United States and laid the foundation for equality and many of the civil rights gains in this country.
“Hastening the appointment of judicial nominees is alarmingly irresponsible and a shocking affront to the Senate’s Constitutional responsibility to advise and consent,” said Lisa Cylar Barrett, LDF’s Director of Policy. “Moreover, 11 of the 19 nominees being advanced have failed to affirm Brown vs. Board of Education, a matter that should immediately disqualify the nominees. It is imperative that the Senate fully vet each and every nominee to ensure their ability to be fair and impartial before confirming them to a position which will impact the lives of citizens for generations.”
Read the full letter here.
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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.
