Today the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Inc. (LDF) sent a letter to Senators Schumer and McConnell opposing the nomination of Steven Menashi to a seat on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Our reasons to oppose his confirmation include: his refusal to be transparent about his tenure as Special Assistant and Associate Counsel to the President, his demonstration of clear hostility toward civil rights while at the Department of Education, and his established and long and deep history of biased and offensive beliefs as evident in his writings.
“Our founder, Thurgood Marshall, was nominated to this very seat in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy. Marshall served on the Second Circuit with distinction until he was nominated to serve as the U.S. Solicitor General in 1965. Two years later he became the first African American confirmed to sit on the United States Supreme Court. When Marshall was nominated to the seat on the Second Circuit for which Mr. Menashi is now nominated, he brought with him a distinguished record as a ground-breaking, legendary civil rights lawyer. His accomplishments in the courtroom resulted in the most important, transformative shift in our democracy in nearly 100 years. Marshall’s work, including his landmark win in Brown v. Board of Education in the U.S. Supreme Court, changed the course of American democracy, moving us closer to the promise of equality set forth in the 14th amendment to the Constitution. Thus, it is particularly alarming that Mr. Menashi, the nominee for this seat on the Second Circuit, has dedicated the majority of his legal career to rolling back critical civil rights protections for minority communities.”
Read our full letter here.
