Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, released the following statement in response to the U.S. Senate’s confirmation of Pamela Bondi to the role of U.S. Attorney General:
“We have grave concerns about how Ms. Bondi will lead the Department of Justice, an agency founded to uphold the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments—known as the Reconstruction Amendments. These constitutional provisions abolished slavery, established birthright citizenship, required equal protection under the law, and prohibited racial discrimination in voting.
Ms. Bondi’s record raises serious doubts about her commitment to upholding these and other civil rights. Time and again, she has prioritized partisan ideology over truth and the rule of law, refusing to answer direct questions about her ability to administer justice impartially. Her confirmation comes at a time when we need an independent Department of Justice more than ever—one whose leader remembers why it was founded.
Now that she has been confirmed, Ms. Bondi must follow the rule of law, not weaponize the Department of Justice to advance an extreme, hateful agenda that undermines the rights of everyday Americans and consolidates power in the hands of the few.
Our country stands at an inflection point. We must choose whether to fight for a nation rooted in equality, fairness, and justice—or allow division, political ideology, and hateful attacks to take hold. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and our network of pro bono attorneys choose democracy—a system where Black people, communities of color, and all Americans have a fair shot, and where the rule of law for the people prevails over the rule by the few. We will fight in and out of the courtroom to defend civil rights. No matter the obstacles, we are committed to the pursuit of a democracy that delivers on its promises for everyone.”
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About the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law— Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, formed in 1963 at the request of President John F. Kennedy to mobilize the nation’s leading lawyers as agents for change in the Civil Rights Movement. Today, the Lawyers’ Committee uses legal advocacy to achieve racial justice, fighting inside and outside the courts to ensure that Black people and other people of color have the voice, opportunity, and power to make the promises of our democracy real. The Lawyers’ Committee implements its mission and objectives by marshaling the pro bono resources of the bar for litigation, public policy, advocacy and other forms of service by lawyers to the cause of civil rights.
