Politics
Why is Rubio blocking a gay black judicial nominee?
Fla. senator continues 10-month delay on official he once supported
Sen. Marco Rubio is holding up the nomination of a judicial nominee who’d be the first openly gay black male to serve on the federal bench. (Blade file photo by Michael Key).
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is being criticized for his continued hold on a gay black judicial nominee pending before the Senate as observers of the confirmation process dismiss his reasons for blocking the confirmation.
Rubio has been withholding the “blue slip” for William Thomas, whom President Obama first nominated for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida nearly a year ago. If confirmed, Thomas would be the first openly gay black male to serve on the federal bench.
The Washington Blade reported in July that Rubio was blocking the nomination of Thomas along with Brian Davis, another black judicial nominee who was nominated for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. But after Rubio last week lifted his hold on Davis, the continued obstruction of Thomas gained significant attention after The New York Times reported on the story.
Refusing to turn in the “blue slip” for a nomination — a responsibility for the U.S. senators representing the state where a judicial nominee would serve — effectively blocks the Senate Judiciary Committee from advancing the nomination. Opposing the Thomas nomination is a new position for Rubio, who initially recommended Thomas for the seat following the nominee’s approval by Florida’s Federal Judicial Nominating Commission.
In a statement to the Blade, Brooke Sammon, a Rubio spokesperson, confirmed Rubio opposes the Thomas nomination.
“The nomination of Judge Thomas has also been thoroughly reviewed, and Sen. Rubio has determined that Thomas’s record on the state court raises serious concerns about his fitness for a lifetime federal appointment,” she said. “After reviewing Thomas’s record, Senator Rubio cannot support moving forward with the nomination at this time.
The senator’s office provided a long list of reported actions by Thomas in his role as a state judge in the Miami-Dade Circuit. They involve two cases over which Thomas presided.
One is the case of Michael Traverso, who killed a cyclist in a hit-and-run accident while driving on a suspended license. Rubio’s office cites concerns that Thomas sentenced Traverso to the minimum sentence of 22.8 months in jail, less time served, amounting to only 364 days.
The other involves Joel Lebron, who took part in the 2002 gang rape and murder of 18-year-old Ana Maria Angel. According to Rubio’s office, Thomas twice suppressed confessions of perpetrators of the crime including the confession of Lebron, who pulled the trigger.
Another objection cited by Rubio’s office: Thomas broke down in tears in January while sentencing Lebron to death. His office cites a Miami Herald report, but that article says Thomas wept not for Lebron, but the victim as he was reading the circumstances of the murder.
In both of these rulings, Rubio’s office says an appellate court overturned Judge Thomas in whole or in part. Additionally, Rubio’s office contends a death sentence imposed on another defendant was also reversed because Thomas “improperly” allowed certain testimony.
Rubio has supported gay judicial nominees before. Just this week, Rubio was among the 98 senators who unanimously confirmed Todd Hughes as a U.S. Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.
The reasons that Rubio’s office offered for blocking the nomination are in dispute. As reported by the Blade in July, Nushin Sayfie, administrative judge for the criminal division of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in Florida, has attempted to allay concerns about the Traverso case.
In a July 19 letter to Rubio, Sayfie writes the sentence Thomas gave in the case was within his guideline range and, unlike what the media reported, the defendant wasn’t charged with the death of the victim, but “charged with leaving the scene of an accident (involving death).”
A similar letter to Rubio asserting that Thomas acted responsibly in the case was written in January by the prosecutor in the case, Jane Anderson.
The Alliance of Justice, which tracks judicial nominations, has also raised points countering Rubio’s objection to the handling of the Lebron case.
Michelle Schwartz, director of justice programs for the Alliance for Justice, said the details of those proceedings were well-known before the Thomas nomination was made.
“The decision in the Lebron case to which Rubio now claims to object occurred six years ago (and Thomas sentenced one of the defendants to death),” Schwartz said. “Remember, Rubio first said he would support Thomas, then changed his mind. If a six-year-old decision was the issue, why did Rubio ever claim to support Thomas in the first place?”
LGBT advocates are also criticizing Rubio for his continued obstruction of the Thomas nomination and say it’s for reasons other than what his office has disclosed.
Nadine Smith, executive director of the statewide LGBT group Equality Florida, accused Rubio in a statement on Wednesday of pandering to Tea Party extremists by sabotaging the nomination of a gay, black judicial nominee.
“Once again, we see Senator Rubio playing politics when it comes to what’s best for Florida,” Smith said. “He is keeping a qualified nominee from the bench to appease extremists.”
John Aravosis, editor of AMERICAblog, accuses Rubio in a blog posting of blocking Thomas over the judicial nominee’s sexual orientation.
“I’m always intrigued when men who come off, to me at least, as rather queer act out against gay people,” Aravosis writes. “It makes me wonder if they’re projecting – or less subtly, using their public homophobia as some kind of private beard to convince their followers (and themselves?) that they’re not really closet cases.”
For its part, the White House is publicly expressing no consideration of withdrawing the nominee.
Shin Inouye, a White House spokesperson, repeated what he told the Blade in July when asked if Obama was rethinking the Thomas nomination.
“President Obama nominated Judge William Thomas more than 10 months ago,” Inouye said. “This judicial vacancy has been declared a ‘judicial emergency,’ and the non-partisan American Bar Association has rated Judge Thomas ‘well-qualified.’ Unfortunately, his nomination continues to be stalled, and the Senate should promptly consider it without further delay.”
Congress
Top Congressional Democrats reintroduce Equality Act on Trump’s 100th day in office
Legislation would codify federal LGBTQ-inclusive non-discrimination protections
In a unified display of support for LGBTQ rights on President Donald Trump’s 100th day in office, congressional Democrats, including leadership from the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, reintroduced the Equality Act on Tuesday.
The legislation, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, codifying these protections into federal law in areas from jury service to housing and employment, faces an unlikely path to passage amid Republican control of both chambers of Congress along with the White House.
Speaking at a press conference on the grass across the drive from the Senate steps were Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.), House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (Mass.), U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), who is the first out LGBTQ U.S. Senator, U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (Calif.), who is gay and chairs the Congressional Equality Caucus, U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas (N.H.), who is gay and is running for the U.S. Senate, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.), and U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (Ore.).
Also in attendance were U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (Del.), who is the first transgender member of Congress, U.S. Rep. Dina Titus (Nev.), U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (Ill.), and representatives from LGBTQ advocacy groups including the Human Rights Campaign and Advocates 4 Trans Equality.
Responding to a question from the Washington Blade on the decision to reintroduce the bill as Trump marks the hundredth day of his second term, Takano said, “I don’t know that there was a conscious decision,” but “it’s a beautiful day to stand up for equality. And, you know, I think the president is clearly hitting a wall that Americans are saying, many Americans are saying, ‘we didn’t vote for this.'”
A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released Sunday showed Trump’s approval rating in decline amid signs of major opposition to his agenda.
“Many Americans never voted for this, but many Americans, I mean, it’s a great day to remind them what is in the core of what is the right side of history, a more perfect union. This is the march for a more perfect union. That’s what most Americans believe in. And it’s a great day on this 100th day to remind our administration what the right side of history is.”
Merkley, when asked about the prospect of getting enough Republicans on board with the Equality Act to pass the measure, noted that, “If you can be against discrimination in employment, you can be against discrimination in financial contracts, you can be against discrimination in mortgages, in jury duty, you can be against discrimination in public accommodations and housing, and so we’re going to continue to remind our colleagues that discrimination is wrong.”
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which was sponsored by Merkley, was passed by the Senate in 2013 but languished in the House. The bill was ultimately broadened to become the Equality Act.
“As Speaker Nancy Pelosi has always taught me,” Takano added, “public sentiment is everything. Now is the moment to bring greater understanding and greater momentum, because, really, the Congress is a reflection of the people.”
“While we’re in a different place right this minute” compared to 2019 and 2021 when the Equality Act was passed by the House, Pelosi said she believes “there is an opportunity for corporate America to weigh in” and lobby the Senate to convince members of the need to enshrine federal anti-discrimination protections into law “so that people can fully participate.”
Politics
George Santos sentenced to 87 months in prison for fraud case
Judge: ‘You got elected with your words, most of which were lies.’
Disgraced former Republican congressman George Santos was sentenced to 87 months in prison on Friday, after pleading guilty last year to federal charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
“Mr. Santos, words have consequences,” said Judge Joanna Seybert of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. “You got elected with your words, most of which were lies.”
The first openly gay GOP member of Congress, Santos became a laughing stock after revelations came to light about his extensive history of fabricating and exaggerating details about his life and career.
His colleagues voted in December 2023 to expel him from Congress. An investigation by the U.S. House Ethics Committee found that Santos had used pilfered campaign funds for cosmetic procedures, designer fashion, and OnlyFans.
Federal prosecutors, however, found evidence that “Mr. Santos stole from donors, used his campaign account for personal purchases, inflated his fund-raising numbers, lied about his wealth on congressional documents and committed unemployment fraud,” per the New York Times.
The former congressman told the paper this week that he would not ask for a pardon. Despite Santos’s loyalty to President Donald Trump, the president has made no indication that he would intervene in his legal troubles.
Congress
Democratic lawmakers travel to El Salvador, demand information about gay Venezuelan asylum seeker
Congressman Robert Garcia led delegation
California Congressman Robert Garcia on Tuesday said the U.S. Embassy in El Salvador has agreed to ask the Salvadoran government about the well-being of a gay asylum seeker from Venezuela who remains incarcerated in the Central American country.
The Trump-Vance administration last month “forcibly removed” Andry Hernández Romero, a stylist who asked for asylum because of persecution he suffered because of his sexual orientation and political beliefs, and other Venezuelans from the U.S. and sent them to El Salvador.
The White House on Feb. 20 designated Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang, as an “international terrorist organization.” President Donald Trump on March 15 invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, which the Associated Press notes allows the U.S. to deport “noncitizens without any legal recourse.”
Garcia told the Washington Blade that he and three other lawmakers — U.S. Reps. Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.), Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), and Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) — met with U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador William Duncan and embassy staffers in San Salvador, the Salvadoran capital.
“His lawyers haven’t heard from him since he was abducted during his asylum process,” said Garcia.
The gay California Democrat noted the embassy agreed to ask the Salvadoran government to “see how he (Hernández) is doing and to make sure he’s alive.”
“That’s important,” said Garcia. “They’ve agreed to that … we’re hopeful that we get some word, and that will be very comforting to his family and of course to his legal team.”
Garcia, Frost, Dexter, and Ansari traveled to El Salvador days after House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) and House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) denied their request to use committee funds for their trip.
“We went anyways,” said Garcia. “We’re not going to be intimidated by that.”
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on April 14 met with Trump at the White House. U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) three days later sat down with Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who the Trump-Vance administration wrongfully deported to El Salvador on March 15.
Abrego was sent to the country’s Terrorism Confinement Center, a maximum-security prison known by the Spanish acronym CECOT. The Trump-Vance administration continues to defy a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ordered it to “facilitate” Abrego’s return to the U.S.
Garcia, Frost, Dexter, and Ansari in a letter they sent a letter to Duncan and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday demanded “access to” Hernández, who they note “may be imprisoned at” CECOT. A State Department spokesperson referred the Blade to the Salvadoran government in response to questions about “detainees” in the country.
Garcia said the majority of those in CECOT who the White House deported to El Salvador do not have criminal records.
“They can say what they want, but if they’re not presenting evidence, if a judge isn’t sending people, and these people have their due process, I just don’t understand how we have a country without due process,” he told the Blade. “It’s just the bedrock of our democracy.”
Garcia said he and Frost, Dexter, and Ansari spoke with embassy staff, Salvadoran journalists and human rights activists and “anyone else who would listen” about Hernández. The California Democrat noted he and his colleagues also highlighted Abrego’s case.
“He (Hernández) was accepted for his asylum claim,” said Garcia. “He (Hernández) signed up for the asylum process on an app that we created for this very purpose, and then you get snatched up and taken to a foreign prison. It is unacceptable and inhumane and cruel and so it’s important that we elevate his story and his case.”
The Blade asked Garcia why the Trump-Vance administration is deporting people to El Salvador without due process.
“I honestly believe that he (Trump) is a master of dehumanizing people, and he wants to continue his horrendous campaign to dehumanize migrants and scare the American public and lie to the American public,” said Garcia.
The State Department spokesperson in response to the Blade’s request for comment referenced spokesperson Tammy Bruce’s comments about Van Hollen’s trip to El Salvador.
“These Congressional representatives would be better off focused on their own districts,” said the spokesperson. “Instead, they are concerned about non-U.S. citizens.”
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