(Washington, DC, June 07, 2018) – Today, Sharon McGowan, Chief Strategy Officer and Legal Director of Lambda Legal, issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s party-line vote to approve Ryan Bounds, Donald Trump’s nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit:

“Mr. Bounds failure to fully disavow his comments mocking the LGBT community and chastising racial minorities for ‘divid[ing] up by race for their feel-good ethnic hoedowns,’ reveals a stunning lack of judgement. Whether or not Mr. Bounds actually regrets what he said, or simply regrets having to answer for it, the fact is that his words, and the words coming from the Trump administration, are unacceptable and should disqualify him for a lifetime appointment as a federal judge. Bounds’ words reveal all that we need to know about what kind of a judge he will be if confirmed, and it’s not the kind of judge this country needs. The American people want judges who will protect everyone’s rights and freedoms, no matter who you are or where you come from – not columnists who trivialize the pain and suffering of minorities.”

Read more about Bounds’ comments and his unsuitability for a lifetime appointment to the Ninth Circuit here: https://medium.com/lambdalegal/death-by-1-000-words-35c9eced7a47