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From the outset, leading national civil rights and social justice organizations have criticized Brett Kavanaugh’s hostile record on voting rights, reproductive health, worker’s rights, gun safety,

Today, I’m honored and excited to take the helm as President of Demos. Today is also Constitution Day, and it is a fitting reminder that we are in the midst of a generational battle for the heart and soul of our democracy. There is no place I would rather be to join that fight than Demos.

Current federal policy falls well short of the robust agenda we need to lift up working families of all races, but we know how to change that.

Tallahassee, FL- Voting rights advocates applaud the ruling from District Judge Mark E. Walker ordering compliance with Section 4(e) of the Voting Rights Act which requires voting and election materials and assistance be provided to U.S. Citizen voters educated in Spanish in Puerto Rico. Today’s decision recognizes the growing presence of Puerto Rican voters and their right to fully participate in elections that would impact their future.

"Today's decision affirms what we have said in this case — that Puerto Rican citizens must be given full and equal access to the franchise. Individuals who are still dealing with devastating losses from Hurricane Maria should not also have to contend with discrimination at the polls," said Stuart Naifeh, senior counsel at Demos, one of several groups that filed the motion for the preliminary injunction.

"Individuals who are still dealing with devastating losses from Hurricane Maria should not also have to contend with discrimination at the polls,” said Stuart Naifeh, senior counsel at Demos. “The court’s order protects the right of Spanish-speaking Puerto Rican citizens to meaningfully exercise their right to vote this fall.”

[I]n Demos’ analysis of the case, the public policy organization focusing on issues of political equity, highlights that Kavanaugh, in joining this opinion, appears to question the idea of disparate impact, which maintains that a facially neutral policy can still have an adverse impact on a protected class. 

The White House also withheld over 100,000 pages of information linked to the judicial nominee. That, said Chiraag Bains, the director of legal strategies at the think-tank Demos, is “something that’s never happened before.” About 42,000 pages of White House documents were released just hours before the questioning started.

President Trump's nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court could have broad implications for civil and human rights at home and abroad. From the use of wartime powers like torture, to the regulation of business, to gender and racial equity, the lives of many can be decided by the Supreme Court. Yesterday, Kavanaugh and the Senate Judiciary Committee gave opening statements amid protests from Democrats, who believe President Trump is deliberately withholding access to vital documents.