WASHINGTON, D.C.–People For the American Way today issued the following statement from PFAW Senior Legislative Counsel Paul Gordon after the Senate voted to limit debate on the nomination of Wendy Vitter for a lifetime seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
“Wendy Vitter was among the earliest of Trump’s judicial nominees to fail to close the door on legal apartheid in this country and affirm the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education. This Friday is the 65th anniversary of Brown, and the most meaningful way that the Senate could have honored this milestone would have been to reject any nominee who would not stand by the court’s monumental attack on segregation. Instead, the GOP-led Senate voted today to advance this narrow-minded elitist’s nomination for a lifetime position in the federal judiciary.
“Vitter is an odious nominee even beyond her refusal to support Brown. Our judicial system only works if district court judges make factual findings without an agenda and without preconceptions. But in her activities as an anti-choice activist, Vitter has actively encouraged others—including physicians—to use fabrications to dissuade women from exercising their constitutional right to abortion. She then lied under oath about it at her committee hearing, as revealed by video that she failed to disclose as required. Less than 24 hours after the state of Alabama passed an anti-abortion law representing the most aggressive attack on Roe v. Wade since the Supreme Court issued that decision, Trump and GOP Senators have advanced a nominee whom no one doubts will interpret the law in ways that weaken a woman’s right to choose.
“Senators who vote to confirm Wendy Vitter to a lifetime position where fairness and objectivity are central to the job will be doing a grave disservice to the public and the rule of law.”
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.