Lisa Cylar Barrett, the Director of Policy at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), issued the following statement regarding this week’s Senate judicial confirmation vote:
“This week, the United States Senate confirmed the 200th Trump administration judicial nominee, filling all available circuit court level vacancies in the federal court system . This milestone is a mournful one for this country. Many of the judges appointed have held extreme ideological views. A large number initially refused to acknowledge that Brown v. Board was correctly decided, and several had very shallow records in terms of the experience and qualifications deemed appropriate for a federal judge. In fact, at least seven individuals received ‘unqualified’ ratings from the American Bar Association, yet they are now serving in lifetime judicial appointments on the federal bench.
“The most recent confirmations were advanced even as this country continues to suffer through the COVID-19 pandemic, which has resulted in a public health emergency and an economic crisis unlike anything this country has seen since the Great Depression. The pandemic has also exposed and exacerbated inequities in this country, with Black people being disproportionately impacted and dying at nearly three times the rate of white people.
“In addition to the pandemic, we are seeing tremendous civil unrest across the country ignited by the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks and countless others at the hands of police officers. At this critical time in our nation’s history, the Senate should be focused on addressing the catastrophic impact of the pandemic and enacting the meaningful and comprehensive police reform needed to address this current moment.”
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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. LDF 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.
