Last week at the Capitol, people rallied to call for senators to oppose the nomination of Jeff Mateer to a seat on the federal bench. Mateer, who is nominated for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, has referred to transgender youth as part of “Satan’s plan,” and has compared policies under Obamacare that provide access to birth control to abuses perpetrated in Nazi Germany.

Speakers at the protest included People For the American Way’s Reverend Leslie Malachi, Senator Jeff Merkley, Nan Aron from Alliance for Justice, Sarah McBride from Human Rights Campaign, Ilyse Hogue from NARAL Pro Choice America, Julie Gonen from National Center for Lesbian Rights, Cedric Lawson from the Leadership Conference and Harper Jean Tobin from the National Center for Transgender Equality.

“I’m not sure this nominee can be about fairness to a family of a transgender child in Mateer’s courtroom, not sure they could believe they would be treated fairly by a man who has said their child is part of Satan’s plan,” Rev. Malachi stated. Read her full statement here.

PFAW and our allies have been sounding the alarm about this unacceptable nominee, mobilizing our members online, as well as in Texas and the states of other key U.S. senators. This week we brought our fight to the Hill to make sure the Senate Judiciary Committee does the right thing and demand Jeff Mateer’s nomination be withdrawn.