WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) hosted a news conference call as he continues to speak out against President Trump’s nominees to serve on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, Chad Readler and Eric Murphy, ahead of a vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow. Readler and Murphy have an extensive record of stripping Ohioans’ rights and are too extreme to sit on the federal bench.
“I believe Ohio kids have the right to quality education, Ohio citizens have the right to vote, working families have the right to be protected from abuse by big banks, Ohioans have the right to marry the person they love, and no Ohioan should be denied healthcare because of a pre-existing condition,” Brown said. “I cannot support nominees who have actively worked to strip Ohioans of their rights. Special interests already have armies of lobbyists and lawyers on their side, they don’t need judges in their pockets.”
Brown was joined on today’s call by civil rights hero Jim Obergefell, the plaintiff in the landmark 2015 marriage equality case Obergefell v. Hodges, in which Eric Murphy argued that marriage equality would be ‘destructive to our democracy.’
“Are women and LGBTQ people worthy of full participation in our society? Based on his record, Eric Murphy does not believe so. He is also clearly hostile toward the right of every American to vote. Those are not positions a circuit court judge should hold. Our court system exists to defend our rights, and Mr. Murphy has proven he will not do that,” said Mr. Obergefell.
Brown met with both Readler and Murphy in 2018 and decided to oppose both nominees as the nominees actively worked to strip Ohioans of their rights and failed to answer for their records in meetings with the Senator. Brown examined their records over the course of several weeks.
Readler and Murphy have proven too extreme for Ohio, with combined records of working to roll back healthcare protections, to strip Ohioans’ of their voting rights, to deny Ohioans their right to marry the person they love, and to eliminate reforms to hold Ohio charter schools accountable.
This week, the Office of U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown is outlining the harmful and radical records of the respective nominees.
MORE ON READLER AND MURPHY’S RECORDS:
Readler
Murphy
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