INSTITUTE INDEX: The anti-LGBTQ onslaught in Southern courts
Tennessee state Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris is questioned by U.S. senators during his confirmation hearing in November. Norris has a record of pushing legislation to limit the rights of LGBTQ people, immigrants, and others. (Image is from this Judiciary Committee video.)
Number of federal appeals court judges nominated so far by President Trump and confirmed by the Senate: 21
At the same point in Obama's presidency, number of appellate judges confirmed by the Democrat-controlled Senate: 9
Portion of Trump's judicial nominees who have a record of advocating against equal rights for LGBTQ people, according to Lambda Legal: nearly 1 in 3
Number of Trump judicial nominees in Texas and Louisiana who have worked for groups opposing civil rights laws protecting LGBTQ people or supporting a "religious freedom" exception to those laws: 4
Days between the revelation that a Trump judicial nominee, Texas attorney Jeff Mateer, had failed to disclose a speech in which he called transgender children evidence of "Satan's plan" and the withdrawal of his nomination: 84
Number of Tennessee state laws blocking local governments from adopting protections for LGBTQ people that Trump judicial nominee Mark Norris supported as a state legislative leader: 2
Date on which Trump judicial nominee Andrew Brasher filed a brief defending what he called Alabama's "man woman marriage laws:" 10/3/2015
In this week's GOP primary election in Alabama, percentage-point margin of victory for state Supreme Court Justice Tom Parker, an ally of former Chief Justice Roy Moore and an outspoken opponent of LGBTQ equality: 3.8
Number of times Moore was removed from the bench for defying federal court rulings: 2
Date on which the Southern Poverty Law Center filed an ethics complaint against Parker for criticizing the U.S. Supreme Court's 2015 marriage equality decision and suggesting that Alabama judges should defy it: 10/12/2015
Number of Confederate flags distributed by Parker at a 2004 event organized by neo-Confederate groups: 300
Date on which Parker said he wanted to "be a player in restoring the constitution through [a] new conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court": 6/1/2018
Number of votes by which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of marriage equality in 2015: 1
In the recent election for the Arkansas Supreme Court, amount spent by conservative Washington, D.C.-based groups on TV ads supporting candidate David Sterling, who has a history of opposing marriage equality: $1.3 million
Percent of the vote won in the three-person race by Sterling, who will face incumbent Courtney Goodson, the top vote-getter, in a November runoff: 34
(Click on figure to go to source.)
Tags
Billy Corriher
Billy is a contributing writer with Facing South who specializes in judicial selection, voting rights, and the courts in North Carolina.