ACTIVISM CONTINUES

On 60th anniversary of 1963 March on Washington, 

Young Black Lawyers’ Organizing Coalition Urges Senator Durbin to Prevent Blue Slip from Obstructing Pro-Civil Rights Judges in the South 

In commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington, the Young Black Lawyers’ Organizing Coalition (YBLOC)’s “Our Courts, Our Futures” campaign is urging Senate Judiciary  Committee Chairman Richard J. Durbin (D-IL) to abolish the blue slip practice that threatens to obstruct pro civil rights judicial nominations in the South. 

The blue slip practice, a relic of the Jim Crow era, permits individual senators to veto a federal nomination to  the bench in their state by returning a simple blue slip noting their disapproval of the nominee. The chair of the  Senate Judiciary Committee has the unilateral power to allow or disallow this archaic practice. 

In the wake of deleterious Supreme Court decisions rolling back core civil rights, it is vital that our  communities are made aware of the urgent need to realign the federal bench across the South in favor of civil  rights,” said Abdul Dosunmu, founder and chief strategist of YBLOC. “If the Senate Judiciary Committee  Chairman doesn’t act with urgency to prevent the blue slip from blocking the nomination and confirmation of  civil rights judges in the South, history will record this as a critical missed opportunity.” 

The “Our Courts, Our Futures” campaign will also highlight the significant role of the federal courts in protecting and advancing civil rights, raise awareness of the large number of high-stakes judicial vacancies in  the South currently being obstructed by the blue slip, and mobilize grassroots voices in favor of abolishing the  blue slip to pave the way for pro-civil rights judges in the South. 

The federal courts across the South, which has the highest share of the nation’s Black population, currently  have 24 federal district court vacancies. Eight of those vacancies are in Texas, where YBLOC is based. In the  last three years, President Biden, Chairman Durbin, and the U.S. Senate have made historic progress toward  confirming pro-civil rights judges to the federal bench, but that progress has largely not reached the South due  to the Senate’s blue slip practice. 

The blue slip blockade in the South threatens to prevent meaningful progress toward filling Southern vacancies  with pro-civil rights judges as the clock runs out on this Congress. This blockade mirrors the historical roots of  the blue slip, which was first used by segregationist senators to block judicial nominees supportive of school  desegregation. 

“Chairman Durbin has made important progress toward elevating pro-civil rights judges in other regions of the  nation, but we will not be satisfied until that progress reaches the South, where our communities are suffering  under the heavy hand of an anti-civil rights political agenda,” Dosunmu said. “We need action and time is  running out. We are using our platform to rally a new movement to not simply ask for action but demand it.”