WASHINGTON, D.C.–People For the American Way today released the following statement from PFAW Senior Legislative Counsel Paul Gordon in response to the Senate voting for cloture on the nomination of Kenneth K. Lee of California to be a judge on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

“Lee is a narrow-minded extremist not at all suited for a lifetime seat on the federal bench, and it’s absolutely clear that Trump tapped him for this position to advance the interests of corporations, the powerful, and the wealthy over the rights of all Americans.

“Lee is the second judicial nominee this week advanced by the GOP-led Senate who left the door open to legal apartheid in this country by refusing to state that Brown v. Board of Education was correctly decided. He once dismissed voting rights as the ‘latest cause célèbre.’ He’s assailed college campus seminars on heterosexism as ‘egregious.’ This unqualified extremist should not have received even a single vote at any point in the process, and the fact that Republicans advanced his nomination over the objections of both home state senators continues the abuse of power that is a hallmark of the Trump/McConnell era.

“This nominee has no business being anywhere near the federal bench.”

About PFAW

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.