In response to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote to approve the nomination of Howard Nielson to become a U.S. District Court judge, People For the American Way Executive Vice President Marge Baker issued the following statement:

“Today’s vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee is yet another example of Senate Republicans’ refusal to stand up for constitutional principles in their rush to rubberstamp Donald Trump’s dangerous nominees to the federal bench. The idea that a judge should be forced to recuse himself from a case because he’s gay—an argument which Howard Neilson embraced in his work opposing marriage equality—isn’t just another legal argument. It’s an ugly attack on our system of justice. So too was the effort that Nielson participated in to politicize the hiring process at the Department of Justice and his work to help the Bush Administration sidestep the laws prohibiting torture.

“Howard Nielson simply hasn’t shown the judgment or commitment to the rule of law that we should be able to expect from a federal judge.”

People For the American Way is a progressive advocacy organization founded to fight right-wing extremism and defend constitutional values including free expression, religious liberty, equal justice under the law, and the right to meaningfully participate in our democracy.

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