WASHINGTON, D.C., November 21, 2019 – Following the Senate Judiciary’s Committee’s party line vote to advance the judicial nomination of Lawrence VanDyke to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, Lambda Legal Senior Attorney Sasha J. Buchert issued the following statement:

“As we explained in our letter of opposition, Lawrence VanDyke has a long history of advocacy and personal statements that seek to diminish civil rights protections for the LGBT community. Mr. VanDyke once promoted the stigmatizing and disproven myth that that same-sex marriages will “hurt families and consequentially children and society”—a position he has not retracted. Mr. VanDyke’s record is so replete with extreme anti-LGBT views that the ABA in its report raised concerns about VanDyke’s integrity, professional competence and judicial temperament and noted that he ‘would not say affirmatively that he would be fair to any litigant before him, notably members of the LGBTQ community."

“Mr. VanDyke’s record and disturbing confirmation hearing raises serious questions about his ability to adjudicate justice in a fair and impartial manner. There is no reason why this committee should have advanced a nominee in the face of such serious doubts about his ability to adjudicate cases in a fair and impartial manner where other qualified candidates could have been considered for this position. We are hopeful that the full Senate will reject his nomination.”