Yesterday, Donald Trump released his Supreme Court nominee shortlist after missing a number of self-imposed deadlines to do so over the last month. Trump’s shortlist release comes within a week of major negative stories like the Atlantic and Fox News reporting revealing Trump’s comments calling Americans who died in war “losers” and “suckers,” and the more recent news revealing taped conversations between Trump and Bob Woodward in which Trump admitted to ‘playing down’ what he knew was a deadly COVID-19 pandemic.

“Once again, Trump is trying to distract from his failure to lead, this time by advertising a list of individuals he hopes to appoint to the U.S. Supreme Court,” said Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David. “This shortlist is nothing but a wishlist from groups such as the Federalist Society and The Heritage Foundation, which have a track of record of hostility towards progress, tolerance and equality. And, if the past is prologue, he may once again nominate people who would deny legal protections for LGBTQ people, take away the health care provided by the Affordable Care Act, undermine the fundamental right to vote, erode core civil rights laws, and fail to value the lives, needs and Constitutional rights of the LGBTQ community. We must not let this happen, and it starts by denying Trump a second term.”