| Dear Katy, Donald Trump has been an open racist for much of his adult life. He defended white supremacists after Charlottesville, told congresswomen of color to "go back where they came from," filled his administration with bigots and inspired white nationalist terrorists.1 So it's sadly no surprise that Trump just nominated a thinly disguised ethnonationalist for a lifetime appointment as a federal circuit court judge.2 Steven Menashi once penned a law review article claiming that countries suffer without a single ethnic identity.3 Now he's poised to sit on the federal bench – so we need to act fast. Tell the Senate: Block ethnonationalist Steven Menashi from the federal bench. Click here to sign the petition In "Ethnonationalism and Liberal Democracy," Menashi argued that "democratic self-government depends on national fellow-feeling: the capacity of citizens to identify with each other," and "Liberal democracy requires a national community if it is to become more than an ineffectual abstraction." He is absolutely clear that such a "national community" means everyone is of the same ethnicity – citing studies to try to claim that societies with many diverse ethnicities are weaker and less effective.4 Menashi's article is the law-school version of the nonsensical dribble that comes out of Trump's mouth at his hate rallies. Menashi even once shared a demonstrably false story – about executing Muslim terrorists with bullets dipped in pig's blood – that is one of Trump's favorites.5 Tell the Senate: Block ethnonationalist Steven Menashi from the federal bench. Click here to sign the petition Menashi is an extremist who has fundamental disagreements with our multiracial democracy, but he could join the ranks of young, extreme right-wing judges that Trump has appointed to the federal bench. Mitch McConnell dragged judicial confirmations to a historically slow pace under President Obama and denied him a Supreme Court pick. Trump inherited twice the judicial vacancies that President Obama did from George W. Bush, and the Senate has set a record pace in the 2.5 years since Trump took office by confirming more than 146 judges.6 More than one in five judges on circuit courts – where most federal cases go upon appeal, and where all but a handful are decided for good – are Trump appointees, and his 37 circuit court confirmations are a record for this point in a first term. On top of it all, more than 86% of Trump's judicial appointees are white, and he has yet to nominate a single Latinx or Black judge.7 Now, Trump is trying to give a lifetime judgeship to a radical who thinks countries cannot survive unless formed around one single ethnicity. We need to make it clear to senators from both parties that Steven Menashi's nomination is unacceptable. Tell the Senate: Block ethnonationalist Steven Menashi from the federal bench. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/menashi?t=10&akid=33803%2E12967895%2EcGTFcO Thank you for speaking out, Heidi Hess, Co-Director
CREDO Action from Working Assets Add your name: References: - Nancy LeTourneau, "Did Trump Just Nominate a White Nationalist to the Circuit Court?," Washington Monthly, Aug. 21, 2019.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- Rachel Maddow, "Trump nominates advocate of 'ethnonationalism' for judgeship," MSNBC, Aug. 16, 2019.
- Gretchen Frazee, "How Trump is reshaping one of the country's most liberal courts," PBS NewsHour, Aug. 19, 2019.
- Igor Bobic and Alexis Arnold, "Trump's Largely White And Male Appellate Judges, In One Photo," HuffPost, Aug. 5, 2019.
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