Republicans Feign Interest in Protecting Health Care and LGBT People to Confirm Readler

(Washington, DC, March 6, 2019) – Today, Sasha Buchert, Senior Attorney at Lambda Legal, issued the following statement after the U.S. Senate confirmed Chad Readler, President Trump’s nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit:

“Today, Senate Republicans willfully ignored the warnings from constituents, civil rights leaders, and their Democratic colleagues about the threat Chad Readler poses to the LGBT community and our entire healthcare system. Readler has served as Jeff Sessions’ right-hand man in the Trump administration’s effort to deny life-saving protections for 52 million people with pre-existing conditions, including people living with HIV. Readler has also led the Justice Department’s efforts to allow businesses to turn away LGBT customers and ban transgender service members from the military. Nevertheless, Readler sailed through the confirmation process with votes to spare. The American people deserve more than half-hearted statements from moderate Republicans who claim to support people with pre-existing conditions and the LGBT community.”

Earlier this year, Lambda Legal released a report detailing Trump’s judicial assault on LGBT rights. The analysis outlines the ways in which Senate Republicans have eviscerated nearly all Senate rules and traditions that protect the nomination process, leading to an alarming rate of confirmations for Trump-appointed judges. Trump has confirmed more circuit court judges than any other president by this point in his first term, and his administration shows no signs of slowing down.