WASHINGTON, D.C., January 5, 2018 – Following the release today of a list of federal judicial nominees who will be renominated by the White House, after their nominations failed to advance last year, AFJ President Nan Aron released the following statement:
“The White House is kicking off 2018 by reviving several judicial nominations that should have been left behind along with the old year. They include Thomas Farr, who may have misrepresented his participation in Jesse Helms’s scheme to intimidate black voters in North Carolina; Matthew Kacsmaryk, a virulently anti-LGBTQ activist; and the ‘Hobby Lobby lawyer’ Kyle Duncan, responsible for undermining healthcare for women workers. In Farr’s case in particular, the revelations that have emerged since his confirmation hearing are so troubling that there is no way his nomination should proceed without, at a minimum, a completely new hearing. The Senate should not move forward on this renominations list without carefully considering the lessons of 2017, when three nominees were forced out of the running because of their extreme positions and lack of credentials. That experience showed conclusively that the White House’s picks for federal judgeships deserve much closer scrutiny than they’ve been getting.”