Schumer Floor Remarks Urging Senators To Oppose Confirmation Of Andrew Brasher To The Eleventh Circuit Court Of Appeals

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer today spoke on the Senate floor urging his Senate colleagues to oppose the confirmation of Andrew Brasher to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

Now, on the nomination of Andrew Brasher to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The nomination is truly a disgrace, disgrace to our judiciary, and I urge every single Senator to reject it.

Mr. Brasher is laughably inexperienced. He was confirmed as a District Court judge only nine months ago. That is the sum total of his experience as a judge at any level: nine months. Now, Leader McConnell wants to elevate him to an appellate court. In Leader McConnell’s desperate rush to pack the courts with hard-right judges, his party is asking the Senate to confirm judicial novices to the most austere and important seats on the federal bench.

Worse than this nominee’s inexperience, though, are his views, which are so far outside the American mainstream.

In his five years as the Solicitor General for the State of Alabama, Brasher defended the indefensible, on issues ranging from women’s reproductive rights to marriage equality to gun safety.

Mr. Brasher has also amassed a career’s worth of experience undermining voting rights. Brasher signed onto an amicus brief that argued in favor of gutting the Voting Rights Act, arguably the most important piece of civil rights legislation in our nation’s history. His arguments in defense of an Arizona Voter ID law were roundly rejected by the Supreme Court, including Justice Scalia. As solicitor general for Alabama, Brasher defended that state’s voter suppression efforts, including state district lines that courts later concluded were drawn explicitly to discriminate against African-American voters.

This is who Senate Republicans want to put as a Circuit Court of Appeals Judge.

Whether it’s covering up for President Trump and his attempts to cheat in our elections, or confirming judges like Mr. Brasher who have a history of race-related voter discrimination, Senate Republicans are showing outright contempt for the very wellspring of our democracy: the right of American citizens to vote in free and fair elections.

Mr. Brasher clearly, obviously, and certainly does not belong on the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. I urge every Senator to vote against his nomination.

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