Senate Demolishes Checks and Balances

WASHINGTON – Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement on the passage, on a party-line basis, of a cloture petition to schedule a floor vote on Michael Brennan’s nomination to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals:

“The Republican vote to end debate and force an up-or-down vote on Michael Brennan’s nomination for a lifetime judgeship is a dangerous attack on a century-old practice ensuring checks and balances in our democracy. Senate Republicans were quick to use the blue slip to block many of President Obama’s well-qualified judicial nominees. This hypocritical and partisan disregard of this time-honored practice – in order to ram through Trump’s ideologically extreme nominees – threatens the independence and legitimacy of the federal judiciary.”

Earlier this year, The Leadership Conference wrote to the Senate urging opposition to Michael Brennan’s confirmation. 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.