Lambda Legal Condemns Senate Vote Confirming Anti-Civil Rights Judicial Nominee Cory Wilson

(Washington, DC, June 23, 2020) – The U.S. Senate today confirmed anti-civil rights nominee Cory Wilson to a lifetime appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Sharon McGowan, Legal Director and Chief Strategy Officer at Lambda Legal issued the following statement:

“Judge Cory Wilson’s confirmation to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals underscores the lengths to which the Trump Administration continues to go to erode civil rights and undermine the safety and well-being of vulnerable minority communities, including LGBTQ people. In fact, Judge Wilson represents the 200th Trump administration nominee to be confirmed to the federal courts by Senate Republicans, who remain committed not to addressing the very real crises of COVID-19 and police violence, but instead to packing the nation’s federal courts of appeals with anti-civil rights nominees. Judge Wilson has referred to the Affordable Care Act as “illegitimate” and supported a Mississippi law that is widely viewed as one of the most sweeping anti-LGBTQ measures enacted in recent years.

“For many vulnerable populations, the federal courts of appeals are often the last line of defense against the depredations of those who would deny them equal justice under the law. The Trump administration and Senate Republicans seem set on undercutting that defense rather than focusing their attention where it should be, on the country’s ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its similarly deadly epidemic of police violence, both of which are disproportionately harming black and brown communities, of which LGBTQ people are a part. This past week, we witnessed how important a fair and impartial federal judiciary can be, and we remain committed to combatting this administration’s unfettered and unprincipled assault on our courts and our rights.”

Read Lambda Legal’s letter to the Senate opposing Wilson’s nomination: https://www.lambdalegal.org/in-court/legal-docs/20200512_letter_18-lgbt-...