Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced a vote scheduled for Monday to suspend debate over extremist judicial nominee Kyle Duncan and confirm him to the federal bench. This follows months of outcry over Duncan’s troubling history of anti-LGBTQ conduct.

“Kyle Duncan poses a grave threat to the rights and safety of LGBTQ people throughout the country” said David Stacy, HRC Government Affairs Director. “His agenda to undermine LGBTQ equality makes him a dangerous choice to maintain law and order and is yet another instance of Donald Trump and Mike Pence attacking LGBTQ people from the federal bench.”

Duncan’s record of anti-LGBTQ advocacy is alarming. He represented the Gloucester County School Board in their case against Gavin Grimm, the transgender high school student whose restroom access was restricted based on his gender identity. He advocated on behalf of Louisiana in the state’s bid to uphold its same-sex marriage ban and wrote an amicus brief for Louisiana and 14 other states arguing their same-sex marriage bans did not undermine the decision in U.S. v. Windsor, the landmark Supreme Court case that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. He also argued that a couple married in New York could not have their names added to the birth certificate of a child they adopted in Louisiana because the state did not recognize same-sex marriages at the time and its adoption statute does not allow unmarried couples to adopt.

Today, Politico reported that Mitch McConnell is attempting to ram through extremist judicial nominees in what may be his final months as Senate Majority Leader should Democrats retake the chamber in November.

The Human Rights Campaign has been sounding the alarm on these extremist judicial nominees and the irresponsible tactics in getting them confirmed since Trump and Pence took office.  We will continue that fight.