December 3, 2021
Dear Senator:
The undersigned members and allies of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) Rights Task Force write to highlight a glaring gap in the judicial nominations that have been made for the federal bench: the absence of any individuals with disabilities. CCD is the largest coalition of national organizations working together to advocate for Federal public policy that ensures the self-determination, independence, empowerment, integration and inclusion of children and adults with disabilities in all aspects of society.
There have been ten slates of judicial nominees during the present Administration, reflecting the diversity of our population in many respects. As White House releases have emphasized, there have been many nominations of individuals who would be “firsts” on particular courts—nominees of color, women, nominees representing a variety of national origins, openly LGBT individuals, and nominees who are public defenders and civil rights lawyers. Representation on the bench matters.
To date, however, there has not been a single nominee identified as a person with a disability. As people with disabilities constitute at least one fifth of our national population, this is a striking omission. Further, only a handful of judges currently sitting on the federal bench identify as disabled. The complete absence of people with disabilities among the judicial nominees in 2021 reflects many missed opportunities to address the lack of representation of a large segment of the population. We urge you to address that problem.
The absence of the perspectives of disabled people on the bench has real consequences. Federal courts decide issues of enormous magnitude for the lives of people with disabilities. For example, federal judicial decisions may determine whether people with disabilities can live, work, and receive services in their own homes and communities rather than in institutions. They may determine whether people with disabilities can receive needed subsistence benefits. Federal judges frequently decide discrimination cases that turn on their views about how capable people with disabilities are, or the value of disabled lives. Federal judges have been called upon to decide whether decisions about how to allocate scarce medical resources appropriately deprived people with disabilities of life-sustaining treatment—decisions that may become relevant again as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. The near-total absence of disabled judges on the bench means that these decisions are typically made with little understanding of the experience of disability.
There is an urgent need for more federal judges whose life and work experiences afford perspectives on disability that are currently missing—primarily judges who live with disabilities, but also judges with experience as disability rights lawyers. While the President nominates judges to the federal bench, Senators play a critical “advise and consent” role. High caliber candidates with disabilities and/or with disability rights backgrounds have applied for consideration to be recommended for a federal judicial nomination, and many have been interviewed by Senators’ selection committees and/or Senators’ offices. Yet none of those names have been sent to the White House.
Senators must act to address this systemic exclusion of people with disabilities from the federal bench. In December of 2020, then-incoming White House Counsel Dana Remus asked Senators to “propose talented individuals who would bring to these critically important roles a wide range of life and professional experiences, including those based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, veteran status, and disability.” Nearly one year later, this last category has been ignored.
It is unconscionable that such a large segment of the population, with tremendously significant interests at stake in federal court litigation, is so underrepresented on the federal bench. We strongly urge you to recommend qualified individuals with disabilities for nomination to the federal bench.
To view a list of all sign-on organizations, or to download the letter, visit the CCD website.
