PFAW Analysis of Judiciary Committee Hearing Shows Severe Lack of Credibility and Radical Record Make Boyle Unfit to Serve on Fourth Circuit

People For the American Way released today an analysis of appeals court nominee Terrence Boyle’s March 3 confirmation hearing and his subsequent answers to written questions from senators. The report further documents that Boyle is unfit for promotion to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. Boyle is scheduled for a Judiciary Committee vote on Thursday, April 21.

According to the PFAW analysis, Boyle’s testimony has reinforced concerns that led to the widespread opposition his nomination has received from organizations including the NAACP, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the Alliance for Justice, National Bar Association, National Urban League, North Carolina Troopers Association, and Professional Fire Fighters and Paramedics of North Carolina.

Specific problems with Boyle’s nomination include:

• his troubling and extraordinarily high rate of reversals by higher courts and his refusal to acknowledge many of his errors;
• his attempts to distort or deny responsibility for his clear record of extreme disregard for the civil rights and civil liberties of women, the disabled, and public employees;
• the failure to carry out his pledge to release his unpublished opinions, preventing the Senate from taking into account the bulk of his record as it considers his nomination.

“Boyle’s radical record of jurisprudence, his frequent inability to correctly interpret the law, and his astounding lack of credibility before the Senate Judiciary Committee plainly show that Boyle is unfit for promotion to the Fourth Circuit,” said People For the American Way President Ralph G. Neas.