WASHINGTON, D.C., April 4, 2019 – Following the Senate Judiciary Committee’s vote today to advance the nominations of Kenneth Lee and Daniel Collins for seats on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, AFJ President Nan Aron released the following statement:
“Today Republicans on the Judiciary Committee voted to again steamroll the rights of their Senate colleagues by advancing the judicial nominations of two people, Kenneth Lee and Daniel Collins, who are strongly opposed by their home-state senators, Sens. Feinstein and Harris. Collins’s record gives us no assurance that he would uphold civil rights. Lee’s initial failure to disclose scores of offensive articles he once wrote raises questions about whether he deliberately tried to circumvent the nomination vetting process. Republicans now have no shame when it comes to corrupting the judicial nominations process to pack the courts with the partisans they want, and this time it’s the millions of people living in the Ninth Circuit who will pay the price.”