Buzzfeed News today reported on inflammatory language from US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit nominee Neomi Rao’s collegiate writing. Rao is nominated for a lifetime appointment on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. Todd A. Cox, Policy Director at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), provided the following statement:
“Neomi Rao’s collegiate writings are offensive and show that she should not be entrusted to serve in a lifetime appointment to the bench. Nothing in her record suggests she has disavowed these views. From her inflammatory language around LGBTQ rights and date rape, to her idea that affirmative action is a ‘hot, money-making idea,’ we should be alarmed that the nomination ever progressed, and that she has been included as a potential Supreme Court pick. Rao fits into a pattern of this Administration’s judicial nominees who demonstrate hostility to civil and human rights principles of equality. No litigant with a civil rights claim before her could trust she would fairly and impartially provide equal justice under the law. With our civil rights under attack in this country, if her nomination moves forward, each and every Senator must exercise their ‘advise and consent’ power to ensure that only judicial nominees who will defend equal justice under the law are confirmed to federal courts.”
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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.
