BALTIMORE – Today, the NAACP announced its opposition to the nomination of Wendy Vitter to the Eastern District of Louisiana and all nominees refusing to endorse the Supreme Court’s seminal ruling in Brown v. Board of Education.
“This week, we celebrate the 65th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education. This ruling transformed our nation by affirming the principle of equal justice for all.
At precisely this moment, the U.S. Senate seeks to vote on several judicial nominees, including Wendy Vitter, who refuse to say that Brown v. Board was correctly decided. This is no coincidence. The NAACP is clear: Any nominee who cannot endorse Brown is completely disqualified from the federal bench.
Wendy Vitter is nominated to the same court which ordered the admission of Ruby Bridges, the first African-American child to integrate an all-white elementary school in the South. The refusal by Vitter and other nominees to embrace Brown is deeply offensive to this history and to the rule of law itself.
The Brown ruling is sacrosanct. For any judicial nominee to treat Brown with anything less than universal acceptance is deplorable and must be condemned by the Senate in the strongest terms.
The NAACP has sent a letter to the Senate opposing the Vitter nomination and all other such nominations. We urge the Senate to stand on the right side of history by rejecting these nominees. ”