(Washington, DC, February 7, 2019) – Today, Sharon McGowan, Legal Director and Chief Strategy Officer of Lambda Legal, issued the following statement after the Senate Judiciary Committee held a markup to consider 46 nominees in one sitting:

“Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsay Graham is picking up where his predecessor left off and turning the committee confirmation process into a drive-thru for Donald Trump’s nominees. Just this morning, Chairman Graham packed 46 executive and judicial nominations into one markup. Meaningful ‘advice and consent’ has been abandoned in an effort to rapidly confirm virtually every judicial and executive branch nominee put forth by President Trump, regardless of how dangerous or extreme.

“Notably, among those under consideration were William Barr, nominated to lead the Justice Department as Attorney General, as well as appellate and district court nominees such as Chad Readler, Eric Murphy, Allison Rushing, Matthew Kacsmaryk, Howard Nielson, and Stephen Clark. Each of these nominees has a proven track record of denigrating and diminishing the rights of LGBTQ people and other vulnerable minorities, and yet all of them were advanced to the full Senate on a strict party-line vote. Chairman Graham may try to speak the language of bipartisanship and collegiality, but what was on display this morning was the same old tactics designed to circumvent meaningful debate on highly controversial nominees and stack the federal courts with judges who are poised to do significant damage to civil rights for generations to come.”