The Honorable Frank Pallone
Chair
Committee on Energy & Commerce
2125 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Doug Collins
Ranking Member
Committee on Energy & Commerce
2125 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Anna Eshoo
Chair
Committee on Energy & Commerce
Subcommittee on Health
2125 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Michael Burgess
Ranking Member
Committee on Energy & Commerce
Subcommittee on Health
2125 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Representatives Pallone, Walden, Eshoo, and Burgess:

As national faith-based, religious, and civil rights organizations that share a commitment to religious freedom and the separation of religion and government, we write to express our strong and unequivocal support for HR 2975, the Women’s Health Protection Act.

We affirm our nation’s founding principle of religious liberty, which is integrally bound to reproductive freedom. Religious liberty includes the right to follow one’s own faith or moral code in making critical, personal reproductive health decisions, without political interference. While we respect the right of every individual, including our lawmakers, to hold their own personal and religious beliefs, our country’s Constitution demands that no one impose a single religious viewpoint on all through civil law or regulation. The Women’s Health Protection Act is essential legislation that embodies these shared ideals.

The Women’s Health Protection Act is urgently needed. State lawmakers introduced a staggering 304 abortion restrictions in the first three months of 2019 alone, escalating attacks that have produced over 450 laws constraining access to reproductive health care since 2011. This egregious trend has resulted in large swaths of the country losing access to safe, timely abortion care. The Women’s Health Protection Act is an important bill that would enact protections on the federal level to safeguard access to high-quality care and to secure constitutional rights by protecting patients and providers from political or religious interference.

Rather than face onerous barriers due to their economic status, employment status, or zip code, this bill would ensure that each person can make a decision about abortion led by their own circumstances, faith, or moral beliefs. It would also protect the religious liberty of individual health care providers seeking to administer quality care to their patients and enable providers to deliver abortion services free from burdensome restrictions designed to impede access rather than improve patient health.

We believe in compassion, justice, and dignity for all, compelling us to speak out for social justice and the right of every person to access comprehensive, affordable, and equitable reproductive health care. We are committed to ensuring equity and justice for the most marginalized members of our society. Laws that limit the availability of abortion disrespect human dignity, erode constitutional rights, exact far-reaching health and economic consequences, and ignore the moral agency of physicians seeking to provide compassionate care. Furthermore, laws that eliminate options for some based on their geographic location are profoundly unjust, pushing care out of reach for those living in poverty and in rural areas, people of color, LGBTQ people, and young people. We cannot remain idle as state laws transform our country into a map of “haves and have-nots” with regard to access to reproductive health services.

Every day, we support equal, fair, and comprehensive access to health care and respect for personal decision-making. We support the Women’s Health Protection Act as a means to this end and urge you and your colleagues to do the same. It is the right thing to do.

Respectfully,
A Critical Mass: Women Celebrating Eucharist
African American Ministers In Action (AAMIA)
ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish Renewal
Ameinu
American Atheists
American Humanist Association
Anti-Defamation League
Avodah
Bend the Arc: Jewish Action
Catholics for Choice
CenterLink: The Community of LGBT Centers
Central Conference of American Rabbis
Chicago Women-Church
Clergy Advocacy Board of Planned Parenthood Federation of America
CORPUS
Disciples Justice Action Network
Episcopal Women’s Caucus
Freedom From Religion Foundation
Global Justice Institute (MCC)
Hadassah, The Women’s Zionist Organization of America, Inc.
Human Rights Campaign
Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action
Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA)
Jewish Women International
Jews United for Justice
Keshet
Methodist Federation for Social Action
Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC)
Muslim Advocates
Muslims for Progressive Values
National Center for Transgender Equality
National Coalition of American Nuns (NCAN)
National Council of Jewish Women
National Organization for Women
Network of Jewish Human Service Agencies
People For the American Way
Rabbinical Assembly
Reconstructing Judaism
Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association
Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice of Connecticut, Inc.
Religious Institute
Society for Humanistic Judaism
Tivnu: Building Justice
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
Union for Reform Judaism
Unitarian Universalist Women’s Federation
United Church of Christ, Justice, and Witness Ministries
Voices for Progress
Women of Reform Judaism
Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual (WATER)
Women’s League for Conservative Judaism
Women’s Ordination Conference 

December 3, 2019

United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary

224 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Graham, Ranking Member Feinstein, and Committee Members:

The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) writes to express its strong opposition to the nomination of Andrew Brasher to the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Due to his long record of affiliation and support for far-right organizations, including the Federalist Society and the Rule of Law Defense Fund, it is clear Brasher has a partisan and ideological agenda. His refusal to provide notes or transcripts from his many ultra-conservative speaking engagements prevents transparency in the nomination process and erodes trust. This background undermines any confidence that he would serve as a fair and impartial judge. Furthermore, he devoted much of his career to efforts to restrict voting rights, LGBT equality, reproductive freedom, environmental protection, and other critical civil and human rights — leading us to believe that he would prioritize his personal beliefs before the US Constitution if confirmed.

In particular, Brasher has repeatedly defended unconstitutional laws, including one that would allow a judge to appoint an attorney for a fetus and allow a prosecutor to have witnesses testify regarding the maturity of a minor seeking abortion care. Further demonstrating his flagrant hostility to women’s access to health care, Brasher supported laws requiring abortion providers have admitting privileges, restricting the proximity of facilities that provide abortion to schools, as well as effectively criminalizing the most common method of second-trimester abortions. His ruling in Eternal World Television Network v. Burwell claiming that the Affordable Care Act contraception coverage accommodation violates religious freedom was rejected by the Eleventh Circuit — the very court he is nominated to. In Planned Parenthood Southeast v. Strange Brasher defended a discredited so-called expert witness, Vincent Rue, who has argued that abortion leads to mental illness. His decisions show that he will continue to create an “undue burden” for individuals seeking access to health care and that he is out of step with mainstream judicial standards.

That Brasher would be elevated to a circuit court judgeship after supporting laws that brazenly disregard the US Constitution undermines the integrity of the judiciary. These include his defense of Florida’s unconstitutional law that allowed judges to overrule juries to impose the death penalty, and repeatedly opposing the right of individuals to band together to hold corporations accountable. At his nomination hearing, Mr. Brasher was unwilling to state that Brown v. Board was correctly decided in response to a direct question. Mr. Brasher’s unabashed refusal to respond in the affirmative to this landmark civil rights case provides further evidence of enmity to basic civil and human rights.

As if that history weren’t sufficiently disqualifying, while serving as Solicitor General of Alabama, Brasher filed an amicus brief in Shelby County v. Holder that supported eroding the Voting Rights Act. He also defended Alabama’s felon anti-voter law and supported an Arizona law, rejected by the Supreme Court, requiring voters to show proof of citizenship before voting. And, he has been critical of the Supreme Court’s efforts to correct racial gerrymanders. Brasher’s attacks on civil rights are not limited to issues of voting and enfranchisement; they include supporting drug tests for TANF applicants, defending Alabama’s ban on marriage equality, and donating to the political campaign of a judge who supported conversion therapy.

NCJW believes that lifetime seats on our nation’s judiciary must be reserved for those committed to equality and justice for all. Accordingly, we strongly urge the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote against the confirmation of Andrew Brasher to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Sincerely,

Jody Rabhan

Chief Policy Officer

National Council of Jewish Women

NCJW Opposes Brasher for Circuit Court of Appeals

As a diverse coalition of interfaith partners dedicated to moral and humane immigration policies,
we demand the immediate resignation of White House Senior Policy Advisor Stephen Miller. We
believe that all people deserve to be treated with dignity, regardless of their immigration status.
Our varied faith traditions mandate us to welcome the stranger, love each other, and protect the
most vulnerable among us.

Faith organizations have a long and proud history of working to help immigrants, refugees, and
asylum seekers arriving in the United States as a result of war, displacement, and religious
persecution. We have facilitated their resettlement, ensured proper care for women and
children, helped them find homes and jobs, and prevented their potential exploitation. We work
together to fight back against xenophobia, religious intolerance, and bigotry.

We firmly oppose the anti-immigrant, anti-refugee, and anti-asylee policies enacted by this
administration, including (but not limited to) the Muslim ban, efforts to end the Deferred Action
for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS)
wherever possible, onerous barriers for family reunification, the increased criminalization of
immigrants, family separation, decimating of the nation’s refugee resettlement program, and
repeated attacks on asylum. Stephen Miller authored many of these destructive policies and
helped ensure their enactment via his network of anti-immigrant officials throughout the federal
government. Further, these policies have been paired with heightened and unrelenting
anti-immigrant and xenophobic rhetoric coming from the White House.

A recent email cache published by the Southern Poverty Law Center prove that Stephen Miller
is entrenched in white supremacist ideology. His fondness for the 1924 US law grounded in
eugenics limiting non-white immigrants, his familiarity with the French novel Camp of Saints,
popular among neo-Nazis, and his close ties to the Center for Immigration Studies (an
SPLC-designated hate group) – these are but a few examples of Miller’s ideological
touchstones.

At one point in history, harboring a white supremacist in the White House could harm an
administration. Today, President Trump appears unbothered by his close official’s ties to white
supremacy. This cannot stand. As organizations of many faiths, who feel love and respect
where Miller advances disdain and hate, we call for his resignation immediately.

Signed,
National Council of Jewish Women
African American Ministers In Action
Ameinu
Anti-Defamation League
Bend the Arc Jewish Action
Bnai Keshet
Church World Service
DC-MD Justice For Our Neighbors
Disciples Justice Action Network
Faith in Public Life
Faithful America
Franciscan Action Network
Habonim Dror North America
HIAS
J Street
Jewish Labor Committee
Keshet
The Nation’s Mosque
NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice
Pax Christi USA
Reconstructing Judaism
Reconstructionist Rabbinical Association
Society for Humanistic Judaism
T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
Union for Reform Judaism

On January 8th, 2020, a diverse group of prominent civil rights leaders sent the following letter urging House Democratic leaders to take action on the NO BAN Act.

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer and Majority Whip Clyburn,

We, the undersigned leadership of civil rights and social justice organizations are writing to applaud the historic advancement of legislation in the 116th Congress. Under your leadership, the House has passed vital civil rights protections for women, working people, people of color, voters, the LGBTQ community and immigrants. As a result of the House passage of the Violence Against Women Act, the Voting Rights Advancement Act, the Equality Act, the Raise the Wage Act, the Paycheck Fairness Act, and the Dream and Promise Act, countless Americans see the House of Representatives as a defender of fundamental rights that are under attack by the current administration and in the courts.

For three years now, thousands of American Muslim families have been separated because of the Muslim ban. We applaud the recent joint hearing in the Judiciary and Foreign Affairs Committees which highlighted the tragic stories of the victims of this discriminatory policy. We urge you to schedule a mark-up and House vote on the NO BAN Act (H.R. 2214), which has the support of more than 200 co-sponsors, 400 organizations and members of the business community. One of President Trump’s first acts of office was to enact a Muslim ban that has cruelly separated countless American families and fomented a wave of anti-Muslim bigotry. The NO BAN Act would stop the Muslim ban and also prevent future discriminatory bans. Furthermore, House passage of this bill would be historic as the only time in memory that any house of Congress has ever advanced a bill specifically to protect the rights of American Muslims.

Congress must vigorously defend the rights of American Muslims. American Muslims are our constituents: working people, women, LGBTQ people, people of color, immigrants, and voters. The civil rights of Muslims should be prioritized along with other foundational civil rights issues we all hold dear.

We thank you for your consideration. For more information please reach out to Muslim Advocates Deputy Director Naheed Qureshi at 202-897-2622 or naheed@muslimadvocates.org.

Sincerely,

Rea Carey
Executive Director
National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund

Kristen Clarke
President & Executive Director
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law

Stosh Cotler
CEO
Bend the Arc Jewish Action

Alphonso B. David
President
Human Rights Campaign (HRC)

Rahna Epting
Executive Director
MoveOn

Fatima Goss Graves
President & CEO
National Women’s Law Center

Vanita Gupta
President & CEO
The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights

Sherrilyn Ifill
President & Director-Counsel
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.

Cristina Jimenez
Co-Founder & Executive Director
United We Dream

Sheila Katz
CEO
National Council of Jewish Women

Mara Keisling
Executive Director
National Center for Transgender Equality

Farhana Khera
President & Executive Director
Muslim Advocates

Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner
Director
Religious Action Center

Hilary Shelton
Director
NACCP Washington Bureau

For the last two years, NCJW has been sounding the alarm on Stephen Miller’s harmful and racist policies towards immigrants and refugees. We’re so pleased that 25 Jewish members of Congress see what we’ve been saying, led by Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Brad Schneider (D-IL), and have boldly declared Miller should be fired from this administration because Miller’s “documented support for white nationalist and virulently anti-immigrant tropes is wholly unacceptable and disqualifying for a government employee.

Read the letter here

On Tuesday, December 3, the National Council of Jewish Women, along with 28 faith-based organizations submitted an amicus brief in support of the clinic challenging Louisiana’s Act 620 in June Medical Services v. Gee. Act 620 requires physicians who provide abortion care to have hospital admitting privileges within 30 miles of where they provide care. In Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt the Supreme Court struck down an identical Texas law, holding that admitting privileges have no medical purpose and present an unconstitutional “undue burden” on the right to abortion.  

NCJW is proud to be in solidarity with a robust and diverse coalition of organizations and individuals opposing measures that restrict access to abortion, shuttering licensed clinics, and preventing patients from receiving care.