The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

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Senate Strikes Deal on Obama’s Judicial Nominees. Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said that a deal struck by Senate leadership this week to hold confirmation votes on 14 of President Obama’s stalled nominees to the federal courts was a “was a victory for regular order.” However, she added that “there are still more than 20 waiting in committee or on the floor to be approved. These nominees deserve prompt up or down votes without any more procedural shenanigans.” Zirkin was joined on a press call by Senator Chris Coons, D. Del., and other advocates. “We need to push against the false impression that the judiciary is a political branch of government,” said Coons. “It’s no small matter when talented jurists and lawyers want to serve their country and must wait several months just to receive a vote. It makes no sense.” Republican senators have been mounting a blockade against Obama’s highly qualified nominees to the federal bench. As the White House has documented in an informative “infographic,”the president’s federal circuit court nominees have been waiting an average of 136 days to receive a full Senate confirmation vote and an average of 93 days for district court candidates – far longer than nominees of President George W. Bush.

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Campaign Against Alabama’s H.B. 56 Lands in South Korea. This week Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference, joined by Eliseo Medina, international secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and Dae Joong Yoon, board member of National Korean American Service and Education Consortium (NAKASEC), traveled to Seoul, South Korea, to address the Hyundai shareholders meeting in an effort to enlist the auto company in a campaign calling for the repeal -- not modification -- of Alabama’s extreme anti-immigrant law, H.B. 56. Hyundai, along with Daimler AG and Honda, operate automobile manufacturing plants in Alabama. “In Alabama, Hyundai’s money talks. And on the issue of civil and human rights for the state’s most powerless individuals, Hyundai’s money has been silent,” said Henderson in remarks following the delegation’s presentation to Hyundai’s shareholders. Noting Hyundai’s efforts to market cars to the growing Latino population in the U.S., Medina said “Latinos are waiting to see whether Hyundai will stand with us or with the human rights violators in Alabama.” The trip was the first of a series of shareholder meetings that the advocates plan on joining. Berlin-based Daimler AG and Tokyo-based Honda, which also make cars in Alabama, are holding their shareholder meetings in April and June, respectively. To view videos, photos, news and other documents, go to www.RepealHB56.org.

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Senate Advances Surface Transportation Bill. With strong bi-partisan support, the U.S. Senate this week voted 74-22 to pass Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21), a federal surface transportation authorization bill that provides $109 billion over two years for investments in highways, transit, safety, and other programs. The Leadership Conference welcomed MAP-21 provisions that will expand research opportunities focusing on the needs of communities that are the most dependent on having access to reliable and affordable public transportation to reach employment, health care, and educational centers.

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