Lambda Legal, "Van Dyke confirmation an affront to LGBT community"

“Lawrence VanDyke’s confirmation represents the latest affront to the LGBT community by an administration that appears to revel in its disdain for LGBT people and our families," said Sasha Buchert, Senior Attorney at Lambda Legal.

Lambda Legal has outlined this in their letter of opposition.

"Mr. VanDyke’s long history of working to diminish the civil rights of the LGBT community renders it wholly implausible that he is capable of administering fair and impartial justice," Buchert continued. "In fact, it is precisely this concern that led the American Bar Association (ABA) to rate him as ‘Not Qualified’ for this lifetime position of public trust."

VanDyke is an attorney and a former Solicitor General of both Nevada and Montana. Today, the U.S. Senate confirmed Lawrence VanDyke for a lifetime position to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

In October, Van Dyke cried before the Senate when he found out the American Bar Association made this statement of him; "Mr. VanDyke’s accomplishments are offset by the assessments of interviewees thatMr. VanDyke is arrogant, lazy, an ideologue, and lacking in knowledge of the day-to-day practice including procedural rules. There was a theme that the nominee lacks humility, has an “entitlement” temperament, does not have an open mind, and does not always have a commitment to being candid and truthful."

The same report stated that some people interviewed in the assessment of VanDyke worried that he would not be “fair to persons who are gay, lesbian, or otherwise part of the LGBTQ community.”

"For our legal system to have credibility, people must have confidence that judges will follow the facts and the law, and yet Mr. VanDyke has refused to disavow his prior statements promoting harmful and unfounded myths about LGBT people, including the long-since discredited notion that marriage equality will somehow “'hurt families, and consequently children and society,'" said Buchert. "And yet, once again, Senate Republicans have chosen to vote in lockstep, and advance another dangerous ideologue to a position that he will occupy for decades to come. 

"It is impossible to overstate the damage that is being done to the credibility of our system of justice by the confirmation of judges like Lawrence VanDyke.  Particularly on days like today, we call on all people who believe in equal justice under law to make their voices heard and demand better from their elected representatives in Washington.”                                                                                                                                        

Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and everyone living with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work.

The Gayly. 12/11/2019 @ 10:22 p.m. CST.