It is with profound disappointment that we write to express our opposition to your collective vote against Debo Adegbile, President Obama’s recent nominee to lead the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. In a manner entirely consistent with Washington politics, Mr. Adegbile’s failed confirmation vote was plagued by misinformation, ad hominem attacks, and political self-interest. The result was a travesty in which Senate Democrats were responsible for blocking the nomination of an extraordinarily qualified lawyer who has spent the last decade fighting for civil rights.

With his passion for justice, democracy, and equality, Mr. Adegbile embodies both the mission of those Senators’ caucus and the spirit of the civil rights movement. As the President of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, he led an organization that provided counsel to the disadvantaged and impoverished, and advocated tirelessly for voting rights, fair housing, and an end to the death penalty. Mr. Adegbile even defended the Voting Rights Act before the Supreme Court.

But no good deed goes unpunished. Mr. Adegbile’s tenure with the Legal Defense Fund became the target of a shameful Congressional Republican smear campaign that tested the convictions of Democratic Senators who claim to stand behind the African-American community and the ongoing struggle for civil rights in this country. Mr. Adegbile was unfairly smeared because the Legal Defense Fund provided counsel to a death row inmate as part of the organization’s ongoing effort to fight the death penalty — an effort born out of the organization’s unique historical role in combatting a racially prejudicial capital punishment regime that amounted to legal lynching.

Your votes constitute more than just a rejection of Mr. Adegbile to this important post: They are an indictment of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and its mission. They undermine the importance of providing legal representation to our most vulnerable citizens. They provide a perverse disincentive to those who would fight for civil rights and seek to serve in government, and they distance their caucus from the civil rights movement on which it was established.

The seven of you have placed your personal political security above the ongoing struggle for civil rights. We’re aware of the caution that lawmakers take on seemingly controversial votes – but what is the point of serving in the United States Senate if your constituents cannot rely on your courage and resolve on the issues most crucial to the integrity of our democracy? What is the point of caucusing with the Democratic Party if the mere threat of Republican smears is enough for you to divorce yourselves from the very mission of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division?

We do not live in a post-racial society. The enduring challenges that people of color face today depict a sobering reality that many in Washington would like to ignore. In the face of discriminatory new voting laws, persistent inequality in our criminal justice system, and unequal access to quality housing and public education, the mission of the civil rights movement must still be undertaken with great urgency. Debo Agdebile is the right man to advance this mission and lead the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. Your rejection of his nomination is a travesty and a setback for the African-American community – and the historical record shows that harm to African-Americans ripples outward to negatively impact all Americans. Should President Obama nominate Mr. Agdebile for this post again, we implore you to reconsider.

Sincerely,

The Yale Black Law Students Association

This open letter was written and submitted by former Generation Progress intern Graham White, who is also on the executive board of Yale’s Black Law Students Association on behalf of the association.