Civil and Human Rights Coalition Denounces Senate Committee for Advancing Nominations of Eric Dreiband to Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division; Joan Larsen and Amy Barrett to U.S. Courts of Appeals

Civil Rights Enforcement News, Courts News 10.5.17

WASHINGTON – Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement on the party line advancement by the Senate Judiciary Committee of Eric Dreiband’s nomination for Assistant Attorney General to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, and Amy Barrett and Joan Larsen to U.S. Courts of Appeals.

“At a time when our country desperately needs every tool to protect civil rights, the Senate Judiciary Committee has advanced Eric Dreiband – a man who has worked to narrow the scope of civil rights laws enforced by the very office he was chosen to lead. 

Additionally, advancing the nominations of Joan Larsen and Amy Barrett for lifetime appointments to federal appeals courts furthers the Trump administration’s efforts to undermine rights that women, people of color, and LGBT Americans have spent generations fighting to vindicate.

We urge the full Senate to reject their nominations.”

In August, nearly 80 civil and human rights groups sent a letter to senators urging them to oppose the confirmation of Eric Dreiband. More information on that letter is available here. That same month, The Leadership Conference sent a letter to the Senate urging opposition to the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett. That letter is available here. In September, The Leadership Conference sent a letter to senators urging them to oppose the confirmation of Joan Larsen. That letter is available 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 member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.