WASHINGTON, D.C., July 30, 2019 – Alliance for Justice today released its report on the record of Lee Rudofsky, President Trump’s nominee for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas. AFJ President Nan Aron provided the following statement:
“Lee Rudofsky exemplifies the very young, very partisan lawyers the Trump Administration seeks for lifetime judicial appointments. He has dedicated his career to attacking reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, rights for women, workers’ rights and environmental protections — not just in his capacity as Solicitor General of Arkansas, but on his own time in his speeches and writings. If he is confirmed, he will be yet another Trump judge who is mostly concerned with protecting the interests of corporations and the powerful, this time at the expense of the people of Arkansas.”
Among other things, the AFJ report finds:
- In his role as solicitor general, Rudofsky was instrumental in helping Arkansas become the first state in the country to terminate Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood, thereby stripping millions of Arkansans of access to vital health care and reproductive health services.
- Rudofsky underscored his opposition to reproductive rights in a Federalist Society podcast in which he challenged the constitutionality of abortion rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.
- In an article on “rights of conscience,” Rudofsky minimized the right to access crucial reproductive health services.
- Rudofsky defended the University of Arkansas’ position that it was immune from paying damages to a student whose sexual assault case was mishandled by the school.
- Rudofsky has given several speeches at Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) events, an organization that has supported the recriminalization of homosexuality in the U.S. and criminalization abroad; has defended state-sanctioned sterilization of trans people abroad; has linked homosexuality to pedophilia and claims that a ‘homosexual agenda’ will destroy Christianity and society.
- Rudofsky led the state of Arkansas when it joined other states in challenging the Clean Power Plan, a measure to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
- In his role as solicitor general, Rudofsky worked with several states to roll back environmental protections aimed at curtailing water pollution caused by mining operations.
- Rudofsky has a history of advancing false and dangerous narratives surrounding voting rights. He represented the state when an Arkansas resident challenged a state law mandating that voters must present a valid ID, despite the fact that the law was passed to skirt a previous state supreme court ruling that requiring a photo ID at the polls was an unconstitutional barrier to voting.
- As solicitor general, Rudofsky led an Arkansas lawsuit to stop the implementation of the Obama Administration’s overtime rule. The rule was designed to expand overtime pay to millions of workers nationwide.