Menashi is Unfit for a Lifetime Appointment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Rafael Medina, [email protected], 202.869.0390

WASHINGTON – Lena Zwarensteyn, Fair Courts Campaign Director at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement on today’s Senate Judiciary Committee vote to advance the nomination of Steven Menashi to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit:

“Steven Menashi is unfit for a lifetime appointment. He has demonstrated his extreme views time and again and has been nominated by Trump as a reward for his loyalty to advancing a far-right agenda, rather than for his qualifications. The Senate Republicans’ advancement today is even more alarming because of the nominee’s refusal to answer senators’ basic questions about his work.

Menashi, having worked for Secretary Betsy DeVos and now as Trump’s lawyer at the White House, has cut back protections for sexual assault survivors, student loan borrowers, students with disabilities, and LGBTQ students. He has also worked alongside Stephen Miller on this administration’s most appalling immigration policies.

The nomination of such a partisan and extreme individual perfectly illustrates Trump and McConnell’s baseless agenda to roll back the progress we have made to advance civil and human rights. Senators must reject this appalling nomination.”

Read The Leadership Conference’s letter in opposition to the confirmation of Steven Menashi, as well as the letter from 28 groups in opposition to Menashi on the basis of his record on immigration.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 220 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 member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.