Durbin Opposes Anti-LGBTQ Trump Nominee, Matthew Kacsmaryk
WASHINGTON – In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced that he will oppose President Donald Trump’s Texas district court nominee Matthew Kacsmaryk, who has repeatedly written in his personal capacity about his opposition to LGBTQ rights and the Obergefell case. Durbin also called out Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) for spending another week rubber-stamping President Trump’s extreme nominees and creating a legislative graveyard.
“It strikes me as unusual, more than coincidental, that in June – the LGBTQ Pride Month – our Republican colleagues would decide to bring to the floor the nomination of a Texas district court nominee, Matthew J. Kacsmaryk… Mr. Kacsmaryk has not been shy about his hostility to marriage equality and transgender Americans,” Durbin said. “I oppose the Kacsmaryk nomination. This is yet another extreme nominee outside the mainstream of American thinking who does not deserve to be rubber-stamped for a lifetime appointment by the United States Senate.”
Video of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor are available here.
Audio of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.
Footage of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here for TV Stations.
On June 24, 2015, Mr. Kacsmaryk wrote an article in which he noted that the Supreme Court would decide the Obergefell case in the next few weeks and speculated whether five justices would, “invent a constitutional right to same sex marriage.” He was quoted in an October 16, 2014, Liberty Institute blog post saying, “the pro-marriage movement must prepare for the long war: fight for the right to remain in the public square, earn conscience protections for religious dissenters, and collect the social data for traditional marriage that will win the case 40 years from now.” Mr. Kacsmaryk also signed a letter in 2016 that called being transgender “a delusion.” Last December, the parents of 300 transgender children—including 39 from Illinois—wrote the Senate in opposition to this nomination and said, “Our children are not a delusion, and neither is our love and support for them.”
Even though Mr. Kacsmaryk has expressed strident personal views opposing LGBTQ rights, and even though he has litigated frequently in cases involving these matters, he would not commit to recuse himself from cases involving LGBTQ rights if he were to be confirmed.
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