Call Upon the United States Senate to Confirm Ethnic Minorities and Women to Serve as Federal Judges and to Denounce the Unfair and Biased Treatment of Judge Ronnie White

WHEREAS, according to numbers compiled by the bi-partisan Constitution Project during the last Congress, minority judicial candidates were more than twice as likely as their Caucasian counterparts not to be confirmed; and

WHEREAS, there are currently sixty-four vacancies in the federal judiciary; and

WHEREAS, there are forty-five nominees pending before the United States Senate; and

WHEREAS, of the forty-five nominees pending, eight are African-American, four are Hispanic American, one is Asian American and fifteen are female; and

WHEREAS, the conduct of the United States Senate in the confirmation process of Judge Ronnie White was deplorable and the defeat of his nomination to serve as a federal district court judge was disgraceful; and

WHEREAS, the Senate's treatment of Judge White gives credence to the perception that ethnic minority and women nominees are treated unfairly and unequally: and

WHEREAS, Senators Bond and Ashcroft, who represent Judge White's home State of Missouri, were malicious and decidedly partisan in their misrepresentation of Judge White's record and position on several issues; and

WHEREAS, considering that Judge White's name lingered in the void of unconfirmed nominations for more than one thousand days, it added insult to injury when some U.S. Senators, after defeating his nomination, professed to be ignorant of Judge White's race; and

WHEREAS, in the true spirit of Justice being blind, it is the responsibility of the Administration to nominate, and the Senate to confirm a judiciary that adequately represents and reflects the population of this nation.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the NAACP call upon the President to nominate and the Senate to confirm without delay, qualified ethnic minority and female individuals to serve as federal judges; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the NAACP calls upon the Administration to re-nominate Judge Ronnie White to serve as federal district court judge for the Eighth Circuit and that the Senate confirm him and set the record straight as to his stellar record while serving as a Justice on the Missouri State Supreme Court.