79 Groups to Senators: Barr Would Be Sessions 2.0 and Must be Opposed

Civil Rights Enforcement News 01.28,19

January 28, 2019

For Immediate Release
Contact: Shin Inouye, 202.869.0398, [email protected]

WASHINGTON – Ahead of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s scheduled vote Tuesday, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and 78 civil rights, religious, and progressive groups sent a letter to the Senate opposing William Barr’s nomination to be U.S. Attorney General.

As the nation’s top law enforcement officer and leader of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Attorney General is responsible for safeguarding our civil rights. That is a core and enduring mission of the Justice Department, and the Senate must ensure that anyone serving as our Attorney General is committed to that mission and to our country’s ongoing progress toward equal justice.

The groups write in part:

“At his confirmation hearing, Mr. Barr bore the burden of demonstrating he will not continue the civil rights rollbacks we have seen during this administration. And he needed to demonstrate that he has the independence necessary to serve as the nation’s top law enforcement officer. He failed on both.

“At a time when the United States has a president who emboldens and enables forces of hate and division in the country; at a time when the Justice Department and the entire administration have embraced an anti-civil rights policy agenda; and when vulnerable communities across this nation are deeply terrified — of profiling, deportation, and even murder — people in America deserve better. We deserve an Attorney General who will promote racial equality, vigorously enforce our federal civil rights laws, fight discriminatory barriers for the most vulnerable among us, and stand up to a president who does not respect the role of the Justice Department as an independent guardian of the rule of law. We do not believe Mr. Barr will. We believe he will be Sessions 2.0, and we urge the Senate to reject his nomination.”

The letter can be read in its entirety here.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is 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.