Press Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Daily Kos, MoveOn, The Leadership Conference, and the #OurCourt coalition delivered over 3.2 million petition signatures to the offices of Sens. Lisa Murkowski, Joni Ernst, Mitch McConnell, Mike Lee, Mitt Romney, Thom Tillis, Richard Burr, Martha McSally, Cory Gardner, and Susan Collins calling on them to postpone the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court until after the winner of November’s presidential election takes office.

WASHINGTON – Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, issued the following statement on the Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote to advance the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court and the Senate Judiciary Committee Democrats’ boycott of this illegitimate process:

WASHINGTON – On a press call today, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D. N.Y., Senator Cory Booker, D. N.J., and civil rights leaders urged the Senate Judiciary Committee to reject Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. The committee is scheduled to take a vote to advance her nomination tomorrow.

WASHINGTON– While the Trump administration rushed to end data collection early last week, the 2020 Census is not over. Civil rights leaders and census experts held a press briefing Tuesday in partnership with Ethnic Media Services to urge Congress to pass an extension to the statutory deadlines for the Census Bureau’s data for apportionment and redistricting by 120 days each, as the Trump administration requested last April. Bipartisan legislation has been introduced in both the House and Senate to extend these deadlines to provide the Census Bureau the time it needs to ensure a fair and accurate 2020 Census.

Today, dozens of leading civil rights and technology advocacy groups joined together to announce the 2020 Civil Rights Principles for the Era of Big Data. These are proactive principles that, if collectively followed, will help protect vulnerable communities’ civil rights from rapidly advancing technologies. The agenda was created to push back against overreach by industry and government and to meet the acute need for new legal protections to ensure that technology is designed and used in ways that respects civil rights, preserves privacy, ensures transparency and holds both governments and companies accountable for harm.

WASHINGTON – On Wednesday, October 21, at 10 a.m. ET, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, People For the American Way, Alliance for Justice, National Women’s Law Center, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund), Protect Our Care and the Human Rights Campaign will hold a press call ahead of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote to advance the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett. The groups will outline the Senate’s misplaced priorities, sham process, and opposition to Barrett’s deeply concerning record.

WASHINGTON – With just two weeks until Election Day, The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and All Voting is Local, with its joint And Still I Vote campaign, will host a Facebook Live event on October 20 at 5:30 p.m. EDT to discuss options for early voting and encourage voters to make a plan to vote ahead of November 3.

SACRAMENTO, CA – Today, the Yes On Prop 17 campaign announced a wide array of endorsements from leading national and state advocacy groups, Ben & Jerry’s, and The Sacramento Bee in favor of Proposition 17, a measure on the November ballot that would restore the right to vote for nearly 50,000 Californians who have completed their prison terms.