Senators Take Orders From The Traditional Values Coalition – Block “Radical Lesbian” Judicial Nominee

Posted by | April 20, 2010 14:34 | Filed under: Top Stories


by Thomas Wellborn

One of President Obama’s five long-stalled judicial nominees, Marisa Demeo, has thus far faced the longest delay of any judicial nominee.  She was nominated by Obama on March 24, 2009, and the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs endorsed her on May 20.

We can thank Sen.  Jim DeMint (R-SC) for this impasse, as he is apparently servicing the wishes of the Traditional Values Coalition.   A letter obtained by ThinkProgress from that group says Demeo is an “open, radical lesbian” who supports marriage equality:

As an open, radical lesbian, Demeo has openly condemned the effort to amend our Constitution to protect marriage as a one-man, one-woman union. Demeo supports gay marriage, claiming it is a constitutional right. She also claims that LGBT individuals are equal to racial minorities and can claim protection as minorities under our civil rights laws.

As a DC Superior Court Judge, Demeo would be in a key position to undermine our national security and destroy traditional marriage through her edicts. The DC Superior Court is known to be a steppingstone to the Supreme Court.

Demeo’s radical lesbianism, anti-marriage, anti-national security views are dangerous to our nation. She should not be confirmed to the DC Superior Court.

From the National Law Journal:

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), who frequently delays Obama nominees, said he is holding up Demeo’s nomination in his role as chairman of the Senate Republican Steering Committee, a caucus of conservative senators. “A number of Republicans had concerns and asked me, as chairman of Steering, to ask for limited debate and a recorded vote because of a history of very leftist activism,” he said. … “There are just a number of things that don’t look like a fair and balanced approach that you’d like in a judge,” he said.

Ms. Demeo’s qualifications speak for themselves.

Magistrate Judge Demeo was born in Washington, DC. Following her distinguished work as a paralegal in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, she was selected for a Root Tilden scholarship at the NYU School of Law.

Throughout her career, Demeo has displayed a commitment to public interest work. She has worked for numerous public interest groups including the AIDS Service Center of Lower Manhattan, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund and Texas Rural Legal Aid.

Following further work at the Department of Justice and at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Demeo prosecuted misdemeanor and felony cases as an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

In 2007, Demeo was appointed as a Magistrate Judge in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

Demeo has also served as an adjunct professor at the Howard University School of Law. Looking back, there was also plenty of opposition from DeMint and others from the right wing on Sonia Sotomayer’s nomination.  DeMint claimed she wouldn’t be able to judge cases based on law, and Tom Tancredo even went so far as to associate her with a “Latino KKK“.

In defense of all five unresolved Obama judicial nominees, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said he plans to keep his chamber in session “around the clock” until there are votes on each of them.

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