[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 83 (Wednesday, May 17, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1686-S1687]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                      Nomination of Nancy G. Abudu

  Mr. President, on one final matter, just in time for Police Week, 
Senate Democrats are moving to confirm an anti-police activist to the 
Federal bench. Nancy Abudu is the President's nominee for the Eleventh 
Circuit. Her record falls far, far outside the mainstream.
  Let's begin with the nominee's tenure as director of strategic 
litigation at the Southern Poverty Law Center. Half a century ago, the 
SPLC focused its attention on fighting actual--actual--White supremacy. 
Today, it is better known as labeling political opponents as ``hate 
groups.'' Here is how leftwing commentary summed up its so-called 
``hate map'' a few years ago:

       [T]he whole thing is a willful deception designed to scare 
     older liberals into writing checks.

  Again.

       [T]he whole thing is a willful deception designed to scare 
     older liberals into writing checks.

  Over the years, Ms. Abudu has been happy to join in on the 
fearmongering. She has described prohibitions on convicted felons 
voting as ``practically the same system as during slavery.'' She said 
her biggest concern about voter suppression was States passing laws to 
require voters to have photo IDs. She claimed that the State of 
Alabama, which posted the Nation's second highest turnout among Black 
voters in 2018, was trying to ``establish White supremacy.''
  And one of her employer's latest bits of legal jeopardy occurred on 
Ms. Abudu's watch, in her area of professional responsibility. Several 
SPLC lawyers are under investigation by a panel of Federal judges in 
Alabama for ``judge shopping'' a case. In other words, these activists 
filed and refiled their litigation in the hopes of getting a 
sympathetic judge. Conveniently, Ms. Abudu has claimed that even as 
director of strategic litigation, she was not involved in directing 
this particular litigative strategy.

[[Page S1687]]

  Nevertheless, the nominee's affiliations speak for themselves. We are 
talking about a former State leader of the National Lawyers Guild, a 
group that claims ``policing is the true threat to our collective 
safety''--``policing is the true threat to our collective safety,''--
and a senior leader at the SPLC, which recently defended a staff 
attorney after he was charged with domestic terrorism for participating 
in a violent attack on a police training facility in Atlanta.
  Disregard for the rule of law should be immediately disqualifying for 
anyone seeking a lifetime appointment to the Federal bench. After a 
year and a half of consideration, I hope our colleagues will recognize 
that this nominee is unfit for judicial service and reject her 
nomination.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.