Judge who said being transgender is a ‘delusion’ nearing confirmation
Published in Roll Call
Democratic senators and LGBT advocates want to stop the confirmation of one of President Donald Trump’s most controversial judicial nominees this week, but the fight underscores just how powerless they are to do so without help from Republicans.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell scheduled floor votes starting Tuesday afternoon for a slate of appointments including Matthew Kacsmaryk to be a judge for the Northern District of Texas. The Kentucky Republican has used a 53-47 majority and streamlined floor rules to quickly confirm 34 judicial nominees this year.
Kacsmaryk, despite a history of controversial statements and positions, seems to be no exception. The Senate voted 52-44 on cloture on his nomination and he could be confirmed as soon as Tuesday. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was the only Republican to vote against cloture.
Lamba Legal and other liberal advocacy groups say the past statements and work of Kacsmaryk, an attorney at First Liberty Institute in Texas, show he is a partisan ideologue whose opposition to LGBT rights and women’s health care means litigants couldn’t expect a fair hearing in his courtroom.
They highlight how Kacsmaryk said being transgender is a “delusion,” and how he fought in court the 2010 health care law’s contraception mandate and argued against same-sex marriage when the issue was at the Supreme Court in Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015.