March 20, 2018
NOTE: This letter from a broad range of national conservative and pro-family leaders was copied to CapitolBeatOK and other news organizations.
Open Letter: The U.S. Senate must not confirm Chai Feldblum
Washington, DC
The Senate is currently considering the nomination of Chai Feldblum for reappointment to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) with a five-year term. We urge the Senate to reject her confirmation.
Feldblum has long held views that are out of step with conservative principles and President Trump’s agenda. Feldblum has publicly advocated that sex discrimination, as defined in current law, should be modified to include sexual orientation and gender identity. She also believes that religious liberty exemptions should be extremely narrow.
On the issue of religious liberty, in particular, Feldblum’s views are troubling. She has stated that when religious liberty and sexual liberty are in conflict, sexual liberty should win, and believes that those who disagree should be forced to comply. “To the extent that forced compliance with an equality mandate burdened an individual’s belief liberty,” she wrote (https://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/blr/vol72/iss1/4/) in the Brooklyn Law Review, “my argument . . . is that such a burden is likely to be justified.” She has likewise openly disagreed (https://reason.com/blog/2015/12/12/atlantic-lgbt-summit-dispatches)
with religious exemptions granted (https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/michigan/miedce/2:2014cv13710/295088/76/0.pdf?ts=1471609069) by the federal courts.
Since joining the EEOC, Feldblum has continued to advance an argument, long rejected by the courts, to interpret Title VII of the Civil Rights Act as protecting gays and lesbians from employment discrimination. In a Bloomberg article (https://www.bna.com/eeoc-sex-orientation-n57982067887/) from 2016, Feldblum articulated her commitment to this interpretation, and underscored that she believed the EEOC should push this interpretation on the courts.
Feldblum’s narrow views on religious liberty are inconsistent with the Constitution and with Supreme Court precedent. Likewise, her insistence on championing a view of the Civil Rights Act that the courts have repeatedly dismissed displays a concerning lack of heed to the courts and congressional intent.
Given this, we believe Chai Feldblum should not be confirmed by the Senate for another five-year term at the EEOC and urge the Senate to reject her nomination.
[Signed]
_________________________________________________
The Honorable Edwin Meese III
Former Attorney General
President Ronald Reagan
Alfred S. Regnery
Chairman, Conservative Action Project
Chairman, Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund
The Honorable Tony Perkins
President, Family Research Council
President, Council for National Policy
The Honorable Bob McEwen, U.S. House of Representatives
Former Member, Ohio
The Honorable J. Kenneth Blackwell, Chairman
Constitutional Congress, Inc.
Thomas E. McClusky, President
March for Life Action
The Honorable Jim DeMint, Former Member (SC)
United States Senate
Ed Corrigan, Vice Chairman, Conservative Action Project
Former Executive Director, Senate Steering Committee
Wesley Denton, Former Communications Director
Senator Jim DeMint (SC)
Rachel Bovard, Former Policy Director
Senate Steering Committee
The Honorable Colin A. Hanna, President
Let Freedom Ring, Inc.
Diana Banister, President and Partner
Shirley & Banister Public Affairs
The Honorable Becky Norton Dunlop
Former White House Advisor, President Ronald Reagan
Cleta Mitchell, Esq.
The Honorable T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr.
Former Chief Domestic Advisor, President Ronald Reagan
Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin (Ret.)
Executive Vice President, Family Research Council
William L. Walton, Chairman
CNP Action, Inc.
The Honorable David McIntosh
U.S. House of Representatives
Former Member, Indiana
David Barton, Founder and President
WallBuilders
The Honorable Morton Blackwell, Chairman
The Weyrich Lunch
The Honorable Mike Spence, Founding President
Conservative Republicans of California
Allen Roth, President
Secure America Now
Dr. Ted Baehr, Chairman
Movieguide(r)
Charles Copeland, President
Intercollegiate Studies Institute
Malcolm Morris, Chairman
Stewart Title Guaranty Company
J. Christian Adams, President
Public Interest Legal Foundation
Tim LeFever, Chairman
Capitol Resource Institute
Don Woodsmall, President
Truth at Wake Forest, Inc.
Elaine Donnelly, President
Center for Military Readiness
Robert K. Fischer, Meeting Coordinator
Conservatives of Faith
Dr. Jerome R. Corsi, Ph.D.
Washington Bureau Chief, Infowars.com
Bob Adams, President
Revive America PAC
Peter J. Thomas, Chairman
The Conservative Caucus
Roger Clegg, President and General Counsel
Center for Equal Opportunity
Richard H. Wright, CEO
AAndrews Consulting
Beth Bottcher, Chief of Staff
Capital Research Center
Dr. Everett Piper, President
Oklahoma Wesleyan University
Kay R. Daly, President
Coalition for a Fair Judiciary
The Honorable Michael R. Long, State Chairman
NYS Conservative Party
Mrs.Gene E. Phillips, Executive Committee
Council for National Policy
Austin Ruse, President
Center for Family & Human Rights (C-Fam)
Richard D. Hayes, Partner
Hayes, Berry, White & Vanxant LLP
The Honorable Penny Pullen, President
Life Advocacy Resource Project
The Honorable Tim G. Echols, Public Service Commissioner
Georgia Public Service Commission
Dr. Janice Shaw Crouse, Board Chairman
The Institute on Religion and Democracy
The Honorable Ken Cuccinelli, President
Senate Conservatives Fund
James N. Clymer, Former Chairman
Constitution Party National Committee
Allen Hebert, Chairman
American-Chinese Fellowship of Houston
Gary L. Bauer, President
American Values
Joan Lindsey, President
Lindsey Communications
Floyd Brown, Chairman
Western Center for Journalism
James L. Martin, Founder/Chairman
60 Plus Association
C. Preston Noell III, President
Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.
The Honorable Mike Hill, Former Member
Florida State Representative
The Honorable Belden Bell, Legacy Society co-chair
The Heritage Foundation
Christopher Malagisi, Editor in Chief
Conservative Book Club
Penny Young Nance, CEO & President
Concerned Women for America
Mario Diaz, Esq., Legal Counsel
Concerned Women for America
Jonathan M. Alexandre, Director of Public Policy
Liberty Counsel
Richard Bott, II, President/CEO
Bott Radio Network
Richard Bott, Sr., Founder
Bott Radio Network
Bailey Amaral, Director
The Windrose Project
Kelly J. Shackelford, President and Chief Counsel
First Liberty Institute
Steve Berger, Pastor
Grace Chapel
Donna Hearne, CEO
The Constitutional Coalition
Willes K. Lee, President
National Federation of Republican Assemblies
Ed Martin, President
Phyllis Schlafly Eagles
Rebekah Gantner, Executive Director
Eagle Forum Education & Legal Defense Fund
Lisa Calvert, Christian Speaker
Rabon-Calvert Int.
David Nammo, Executive Director & CEO
Christian Legal Society
Norm Singleton, President
Campaign for Liberty
Judson Phillips, Founder
Tea Party Nation
Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel
Seton Motley, President
Less Government
John C. Eastman
Salvatori Professor, Chapman University Fowler School of Law
Founding Director, The Claremont Institute’s Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence
Rod D. Martin, Founder and CEO
The Martin Organization, Inc.
Sherri R. Martin, Executive Vice President
The Martin Organization, Inc.
Haley E. Martin, President
The Martin Foundation
Shawn A. Mitchell, Former National Chaplain
National Federation of Republican Assemblies
Jerry Melvin, Former Dean
Florida House of Representatives
Evelio Silvera
Campaign for the American Future
Nicholas Stehle
Campaign for the American Future
Mitchell Morgan, Chief Financial Officer
Martin Imaging
Col. Francis X. De Luca, USMCR (Ret.)
President Emeritus, Civitas Institute
Star Parker, Founder and President
Center for Urban Renewal & Education
Ellen Barrosse, Republican National Committeewoman, Delaware
Chairman, Conservative Steering Committee, RNC
Note: Organizational names and affiliations listed for purposes of identification only.
Disclaimer:
CapitolBeatOK welcomes letters to the editor. All submissions should be no more than 400 words and e-mailed to editor@capitolbeatok.com. Please include a contact phone number for verification purposes. All letters are subject to editing. Letters to the editor will remain posted for one week at the editor’s discretion.
CapitolBeatOK welcomes letters to the editor. All submissions should be no more than 400 words and e-mailed to editor@capitolbeatok.com. Please include a contact phone number for verification purposes. All letters are subject to editing. Letters to the editor will remain posted for one week at the editor’s discretion.