Letter: The U.S. Senate must not confirm Chai Feldblum

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. 
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