The U.S. Senate has confirmed a Trump judicial nominee with a history of anti-LGBTQ animus who received a unanimous “Not Qualified” rating by the American Bar Association.
Senators voted along party lines, 50-48, with two abstaining, thereby confirming Leonard Steven Grasz, the former director of the board of the anti-gay Nebraska Family Alliance, as a justice on the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Despite concerns raised by Democrats and LGBTQ advocates about his apparent lack of qualifications, his past anti-LGBTQ advocacy, a personal bias rooted in religious beliefs, and his inability to impartially judge cases on their merits, Grasz’s nomination was approved with seeming little resistance.
Grasz’s defenders have claimed that the ABA rating was motivated by partisan hatred, despite the fact that other objectionable Trump nominees — whatever their shortcomings — were rated “Qualified” or higher by the ABA.
Critics also pointed to his work at the Nebraska Family Alliance opposing the recognition of same-sex marriage, attempting to deny same-sex couples benefits, opposing efforts to ban anti-LGBTQ discrimination, and advocacy for religious exemptions for business owners opposed to homosexuality as evidence of what they felt was his inability to impartially deal with cases involving LGBTQ plaintiffs or defendants.
“We are deeply disappointed that Senate Republicans have voted to confirm a nominee who is clearly unfit to serve as a federal judge,” David Stacy, the government affairs director at the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement. “Grasz’s confirmation is in line with the Trump-Pence administration’s alarming trend of advancing under-qualified nominees with terrible anti-equality records. This radical ideological transformation of our justice system will lead to long-term, harmful consequences that will live well beyond the Trump-Pence administration.”
Vanita Gupta, the president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights — who previously served as the head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division — excoriated Republicans for “rubber stamping” Grasz’s nomination and allowing “an extreme and highly troubling” nominee to be confirmed.
The Leadership Conference previously sent a letter to senators urging them not to confirm Grasz, arguing that he is not qualified to be a judge.
“Mr. Grasz is only the fourth nominee since 1989 to receive a unanimous Not Qualified rating from the American Bar Association,” Gupta said in a statement. “This rating was based on the nominee’s local reputation for bias, lack of open-mindedness, and offensive demeanor. A person with those qualities should not serve a lifetime appointment on the federal bench.”
The U.S. Senate has confirmed Nicole Berner to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by a 50-47 vote, with all Republicans and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin (W.V.) voting against her nomination.
Berner’s confirmation makes her the first out lesbian confirmed to the 4th Circuit -- which covers Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina -- and only the sixth LGBTQ judge confirmed to any appeals court in the country.
It also makes her the eleventh LGBTQ federal judge nominated by President Joe Biden, who ties a record with President Obama for appointing the most LGBTQ federal judges in history.
Kelley Robinson, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, has been named to Time Magazine's list of the "100 Most Influential People of 2024," marking a significant honor for the head of the nation's largest LGBTQ rights organization.
Writing for the magazine, Sarah Kate Ellis, the president and CEO of the LGBTQ media advocacy organization GLAAD, praises Robinson, the first Black queer woman to lead HRC in its history, as having "a vision for a more equal and just world that, paired with her talent for building coalitions across all intersections, has taken the LGBTQ+ movement -- and the larger social-justice movement -- by storm when it is most needed."
Kansas Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly vetoed a bill seeking to block the ability of transgender youth to access gender-affirming treatments.
The bill, passed largely along party lines by both chambers of the Republican-led Legislature, prohibits any entity receiving state funds from providing or subsidizing gender-affirming treatments for minors.
It also prohibits individuals or entities receiving state funds, or state employees in their official capacity, from encouraging youth who are suffering from gender dysphoria to pursue either medical or social transition.
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