NELA

Empowering Workers' Rights Attorneys

SCOTUSResources

SCOTUSResources

The National Employment Lawyers Association Urges Senate Judiciary Committee To Reject Confirmation Of Amy Coney Barrett To Supreme Court

For Immediate Release
Contact: Andrea Hansen
(509) 306-1867
ahansen@flyingcrow.com

Barrett’s Record Clearly Shows Her To Be A Threat To The Working People Of This Country.

Washington, D.C. – October 15, 2020 – The National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), the nation’s largest legal association whose members exclusively or primarily represent workers, strongly opposes the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. The organization is urging the Senate Judiciary Committee to reject Barrett’s confirmation in what has been a desperate play to jam through another conservative judge to stack the deck against everyday Americans.

NELA conducted a comprehensive review of Barrett’s record as a circuit judge and found that she sided with corporations and employers over working people in more than 80 percent of employment-related cases. Barrett’s abysmal record includes cases in which she:

  • Concluded that a Black employee who was called the “N word” in his workplace had not established that he faced a hostile work environment.
  • Voted against rehearing a case that upheld a defendant’s practice of assigning employees to driving routes based on their race.
  • Ruled that the “disparate impact” provision of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act does not apply to job applicants, only
… Read More

Letter To The Senate Judiciary Committee Opposing The Confirmation Of Amy Coney Barrett To The U.S. Supreme Court

Download Letter

Submitted Via Email

The Honorable Lindsay Graham, Chair
United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
224 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

The Honorable Dianne Feinstein, Ranking Member
United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary
152 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Graham and Ranking Member Feinstein:

On behalf of the 2,000 members of the National Employment Lawyers Association (NELA), I write to express our strong opposition to the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the United States Supreme Court. Our additional 2,000 circuit, state, and local affiliate members across the country are also watching this confirmation process with concern.

At the outset, we must raise our strong objection to the blatant Republican double standard surrounding this confirmation process. There should be no disagreement that the confirmation process for a United States Supreme Court nominee should be advanced in an honest, fair, and principled manner. One should not need to write a letter to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary underscoring that the rules that have been applied to a confirmation process of a Supreme Court nominee nominated by a Democratic president should be the same rules applied to a confirmation … Read More

NELA Opposes The Confirmation Of SCOTUS Nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett

“Working people deserve better than Judge Barrett.”

NELA strongly opposes the appointment of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court. NELA, along with a sizable majority of Americans polled, believes that there should be no confirmation of the Court’s next Justice until after inauguration day in 2021. Early voting in the November election is underway; this important decision should be left to the next president and Senate, after the people have spoken.

A comprehensive review of Judge Barrett’s record makes it abundantly clear that she is a threat to the working people of this country and the civil rights protections for which so many have fought.

Judge Barrett’s decisions reflect an utter failure to grasp the realities of the workplace for regular, everyday working people. She sided with corporations and employers over working people in 83 percent of the employment-related cases reviewed.

These are just a few examples of Judge Barrett’s disregard for worker protections:

Barrett Upholds Racial Discrimination
Barrett authored the opinion in Terry Smith v. Illinois Department of Transportation, concluding that a Black employee who was called the “N” word in his workplace had not established that he faced a hostile work environment.
Barrett Upholds
… Read More