Duncan Vote Advances Troubling Transformation of Fifth Circuit

Washington, D.C., April 23, 2018 – Following today’s cloture vote in the Senate, advancing the nomination of Stuart Kyle Duncan for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, AFJ President Nan Aron released the following statement:

“For eight years, Republican senators did everything in their power to ensure that seats on the Fifth Circuit remained unfilled under President Obama. Now Donald Trump is taking advantage of this obstructionism, and today’s vote to advance Kyle Duncan’s nomination is one more step in a transformation of the Fifth Circuit that is deeply threatening to the people living there. This circuit encompasses states with high percentages of people of color and people living in poverty, communities that already face pervasive discrimination. But the Trump Administration has nominated to the circuit five ultraconservative men – two of whom have been confirmed – who have shown hostility to civil rights, workers’ rights, consumers’ rights, environmental protection, voting rights, LGBTQ rights, and reproductive rights. If all are confirmed, the circuit will be a place where millions of people whose rights are already under attack under this Administration will have one less avenue to pursue economic, racial and reproductive justice.”