Blockade of Judicial Nominees an “Abdication of the Senate’s Responsibility” says Civil and Human Rights Coalition

Washington, D.C. – Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement after the announcement from Senate Republican leadership that it will not confirm any more circuit court judges after June, given that this is a presidential election year. They justified this by referencing a fictional Senate “rule” named after Strom Thurmond:

“Establishing a blockade on the confirmation of federal appeals court nominees is an outrageous abdication of the Senate’s responsibility to our courts and everyone who depends on them.

This is another step in a calculated four-year campaign to confirm as few nominees to the courts as possible. 

The so-called Thurmond ‘rule’ is not a Senate procedure or established tradition. Over the last 30 years, a number of circuit court — and district court — nominees have been confirmed well into presidential election years under both Democratic and Republican presidents – including during both terms of President George W. Bush.  

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell seems to think he can invoke a fictional rule to put a full stop to circuit court confirmations and make those seats available to be filled if his party wins the White House. Politicizing the courts in this way does serious damage to both the judicial system and the Senate.

Three solid years of obstruction was bad enough when it wasn’t justified by fictional rules. Inventing new barriers to progress hurts us all – and for the good of a functioning government, it must stop.”

Nancy Zirkin is executive vice president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its 200-plus member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.