Civil and Human Rights Coalition Supports Patricia Millet’s Nomination to the D.C. Circuit

In a letter to the U.S. Senate today, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights announced its support for the confirmation of Patricia Millett to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on her nomination tomorrow, July 10.

The letter cites her diverse and accomplished career in public service, calling her “an enormously qualified nominee with the intellectual hindsight to make objective decisions on a number of multifaceted and prominent cases that will surely come before the court.”

The D.C. Circuit is considered the second-most significant court in the country because of its responsibility for reviewing the decisions and regulations of federal agencies. However, because it currently has three vacant seats, one of which has been open since Chief Justice John Roberts was elevated to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005, the court’s caseload per judge has risen sharply. President Obama nominated Millett to sit on the court on June 4, along with two others to fill three vacant seats.

“Not only is it contrary to the interests of justice for the court to operate understaffed, it is clear that with fewer active judges on the D.C. Circuit than there were in 2005, the increased workload warrants filling each of the remaining vacant seats on the court,” the letter states. “It is imperative that the Senate now does its job and makes a good-faith effort to provide prompt “advice and consent” by moving Ms. Millett’s nomination through the Senate Judiciary Committee and onto the Senate floor as efficiently as is possible.”