Not Above The Law Coalition Launches “Block Blanche” Campaign, Calls On Senate To Reject Trump’s Personal Fixer
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Traci Feit Love, Executive Director of Lawyers for Good Government, Maya Wiley, President and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and Elizabeth Wydra, President of Constitutional Accountability Center, joined the Not Above the Law coalition to call on the Senate to reject Todd Blanche as Attorney General, as part of the coalition’s Block Blanche campaign.
Speakers argued that Todd Blanche is already functioning as Attorney General, making consequential decisions without a confirmation vote. The Senate must publicly reject Blanche’s leadership of the Department of Justice now. Watch the full briefing here.
“There are a great number of reasons to oppose Todd Blanche and many of them are professional, having to do with his competence. The obstruction and the wrongful disclosures and the general incompetence around the Epstein files is something that is not only wrongful, but it should concern a lot of Republican senators,” said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). “I can’t find a single instance in the history of the United States Department of Justice where senior federal Department of Justice officials were charged credibly with committing fraud on the court—that’s the fine point to put on the whole litany of incompetence, abuse of power and failure that has been the hallmark of Todd Blanche.”
“What Todd Blanche is doing is enabling corruption and it has an impact for you taxpayers, voters, on your daily lives, on the cost of living, on antitrust enforcement, on secret deals that take taxpayer money away. It’s not a victimless or costless crime, the kind of corruption he’s enabling. I think we need to bring that point home to the American people, and this coalition has the potential to ignite a firestorm around the country,” said Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT). “I think we have the real potential to stop this nomination if we ignite that firestorm across the country, which is well justified here.”
“As a civil rights coalition that worked actively to create the Department of Justice in its current form, from everything from creating the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and ensuring that it was a shield to protect us, communities, people, and our rights, as well as a sword to go after those who come for our rights, Todd Blanche has decided it’s going to be the Department of Just Trump rather than the Department of We the People,” said Maya Wiley, President and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “This is about whether or not people are going to be safe in this country, safe because of who they are safe because they’re engaging in our democratic practice and process, safe because they’re safe from persecution from a government because they have utilized their power under our Constitution, under our laws, to be able to make demands of government, to hold it accountable, and to demand that it meet our needs. That’s what the civil rights community has always been for. That’s what civil rights has always been about. And that’s what Todd Blanche is attacking.”
“The Attorney General of the United States should be a lawyer for the people, not a lawyer for the personal interests of a particular president. The Attorney General of the United States should stand up to corruption and lawlessness, not foster, protect, and reward it. The Attorney General of the United States should work to support a free and fair democratic system, not undermine and erode it. No one is above the law, no matter how powerful. Todd Blanche obviously fails to meet these fundamental standards and should not be confirmed as Attorney General. We are among the organizations in the Not Above the Law Coalition urging the Senate to vote no,” said Elizabeth Wydra, President of Constitutional Accountability Center.
“The Justice Department is not and must not be Donald Trump’s personal law firm. The Senate has a constitutional obligation to decide whether it is willing to confirm someone whose tenure has already raised profound concerns about DOJ independence, conflicts of interest, and the use of prosecutorial power against perceived political adversaries. More than 2,000 lawyers have already answered that question. We urge the Senate to do the same before further damage is done to the Rule of Law and the public’s trust in one of our nation’s most important institutions,” said Traci Feit Love, Founder and Executive Director of Lawyers for Good Government.
“Todd Blanche is not America’s Attorney General. He is Donald Trump’s personal fixer. It’s a role he’s never paused, despite his ascension in government. The only thing that changed when he walked into the Justice Department is now the American people are paying for his work,” said Lisa Gilbert, co-President of Public Citizen. “Does he merely serve Donald Trump? The Senate has a constitutional obligation not only to call that question but to answer it. We think the answer is obvious that under Blanche, the Justice Department will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Trump’s legal revenge tour, and because of that the Not Above the Law Coalition is calling on the Senate to block Blanche.”
As part of the Block Blanche campaign, 30 advocacy organizations signed a coalition letter documenting Blanche’s record: weaponizing the DOJ against political enemies, firing career prosecutors, and creating a $1.8 billion slush fund without congressional approval. In a companion letter from Lawyers for Good Government, nearly 2,000 attorneys signed a joint statement opposing his nomination.
Watch the full call here.