The United States Senate this week continues to run roughshod over the judicial nomination process, forcing through confirmations of two controversial anti-LGBT nominees – Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and Joan Larsen to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit – and lining up two more – Allison H. Eid to the Tenth Circuit, and, later this week, Stephanos Bibas to the Third Circuit.

At the same time, the Senate Judiciary Committee today convened hearing to consider yet another slate of controversial nominees to the federal bench, including Steven Grasz for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, who earned a unanimous “not qualified” recommendation from the American Bar Association after it concluded that Grasz’s “passionately-held social agenda appeared to overwhelm and obscure [his] ability to exercise dispassionate and unbiased judgment.”

The Committee also heard from Mark Norris, an anti-LGBT crusader who has worked to oppose and undermine marriage equality and authorize discrimination against LGBT people in Tennessee, who has been nominated for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.

Sharon McGowan, Lambda Legal’s Director of Strategy, issued the following statement: