Civil Rights Leaders Call for Full Examination of Kavanaugh’s Record and Request Meeting with Senate Leadership

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Aug 17, 2018

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Six prominent African-American civil rights leaders sent a letter today to Senate leaders to express their concern that the Senate is not meeting its responsibility to fully and impartially evaluate the fitness of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The letter, addressed to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley, demands that Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing be delayed until his full record has been carefully examined.

“Our federal courts derive their legitimacy from the confidence of the people,” the letter says. “Any process that undermines the legitimacy of our courts, weakens the court in the eyes of the American people.”

The civil rights leaders also requested a meeting with Senate leadership to discuss a
process “to restore the faith and trust of the communities we represent in the Senate and the legitimacy of the Supreme Court confirmation process.”

Senator Grassley recently announced that Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings will
begin on September 4, even though large portions of his record – including documents pertaining to his time in the White House counsel’s office during the George W. Bush Administration – cannot be provided by the National Archives before that date.

The letter was co-authored by Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of LDF;
Kristen Clarke, President and Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; Marc Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League; Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP; Reverend Al Sharpton, President and Founder of the National Action Network; and Melanie L. Campbell, President and CEO of the National
Coalition for Black Civic Participation and Black Women’s Roundtable.

Read the full letter here:
Coalition Letter re SCOTUS Process Concerns