Re: Nomination of Donna Murphy

Recipient: Harry Reid, Mitch McConnell, Joseph I. Lieberman, Susan M. Collins

The Honorable Harry Reid
Majority Leader
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Minority Leader
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Joseph I. Lieberman
Chair, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Susan M. Collins
Ranking Member, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Re: Nomination of Donna Murphy

Dear Leader Reid, Minority Leader McConnell, Chairman Lieberman, and Ranking Member Collins:

On behalf of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the undersigned individual organizations, we are writing to ask you to confirm Donna Murphy as Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Ms. Murphy’s nomination should be scheduled for a Senate confirmation vote immediately. 

The President nominated Donna Murphy on February 3, 2011, and she was voted out of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on June 29, 2011. 

Donna Murphy’s nomination to the DC Superior Court should not be a matter of controversy. As her record indicates, Ms. Murphy is eminently qualified to serve as Associate Judge of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. A Yale Law School graduate, Ms. Murphy started her career clerking for Judge Myron H. Thompson in U.S. District Court in the Middle District of Alabama. From there, she continued serving the public as a litigator with the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, under Assistant Attorney General John R. Dunne, who was appointed by George H. W. Bush.

Today, Ms. Murphy has over 20 years of experience and she has built a sterling reputation as a litigator and manager. Her skills have been recognized by each of the four presidential administrations under which she has served, with her nomination receiving the support of five former Assistant Attorney Generals for Civil Rights from those administrations—starting with her first supervisor former AAG John R. Dunne through the current AAG Tom Perez. In 1995, Ms. Murphy received the Division’s second highest award, the Walter W. Barnett Memorial Award for Excellence in Advocacy and in 2007 she received the Division’s highest award, the John Doar Award for Excellence and Dedication in Service to the Civil Rights Division. Highlighting her talent as a litigator, these recognitions came for complex litigation in two entirely different areas of substantive law. Additionally, the Bar Association of the District of Columbia and numerous national law enforcement and civil rights organizations also supports Ms. Murphy’s nomination.

We strongly urge that her nomination move forward and ask that the Senate Leadership schedule her nomination for a final confirmation vote. Thank you for your consideration. If you have any questions, please contact Rob Randhava, Senior Counsel, at (202) 466-6058.

Sincerely,

American Federation of Labor and congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
Asian American Justice Center, member of Asian American Center for Advancing Justice
Compassion & Choices
Human Rights Campaign
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
NAACP
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.
National Bar Association
National Fair Housing Alliance
People For the American Way