One of President Biden’s most recent judicial nominees sits on the board of a group that backs defunding the police and has called for the abolishment of prisons.
Biden nominated Roopali Desai, a partner in litigation at Coppersmith Brockelman to the 9th Circuit Appeals Court Bench last month.
Desai is a member of the Just Communities Arizona board (JCA), an “abolitionist” organization that envisions a world where prisons and jails will be eliminated.
This organization has taken a number of radical stances regarding the criminal justice system. They claim that “the criminal punishments system isn’t really about justice” while also mourning Arizona’s execution last month.
In 1987, Vicki Lynne Hoskinson, 8 years old, was raped and murdered by Atwood. Her body was then disposed of in the Arizona desert northwest of Tuscon.
“The state has executed Frank Atwood,” reads a black graphic with a lit candle that was published by the group on Facebook. Please take a moment and send Light to Frank Atwood and his family, friends, and all others who have been affected by Arizona’s punishment system (even those employed by it).
JCA used to be known as the Arizona chapter American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and changed its name in January.
The national arm of AFSC supports defunding police forces and called the American criminal justice system “a racist, discriminatory system” during the George Floyd riots. AFSC-Arizona signed a statement by the national arm calling to divert resources from “the police forces that occupy communities.”
AFSC supported the abolishment of prisons and the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS), which was backed by several terrorist groups.
Article III Project founder Mike Davis stated that “Roopali Desai’s troubling record renders her unfit for service in the federal judiciary.” “Desai spent her professional life advocating for a radical left-wing agenda.”
“She led an organization that supported abolishing prisons, and defunding police. Davis stated that Desai also worked with teachers’ unions in order to indoctrinate children with Critical Race Theory. “Her position on the Arizona ACLU board and her time as an attorney for Planned Parenthood expose her as a far-left activist driven to dangerous ideologies.”
He said, “Given all the revelations made public by the Article III Project,” and added that Senators Kyrsten Sinema (and Mark Kelly) should be ashamed of their support of Roopali Desai. “As Arizona’s state senators, they have a responsibility not to blindly cheerlead an extremist who doesn’t reflect the state’s values, but to fight against his nomination.”
Davis stated that “Sinema and Kelly refuse to do what they are supposed to do,” and President Biden should withdraw Roopali Desiai’s nomination for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Desai has also been an attorney for Planned Parenthood. He filed a lawsuit last summer on behalf of a teacher’s association and its allies challenging Arizona’s ban on the controversial subject being taught in K-12 classrooms.
The president has a tradition of nominating progressives for administrative and judicial positions.
Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Vice President Biden have been racing to fill vacant seats with nominees, much like the Democrat leader did under former President Trump, before a midterm election in which the 50/50 Senate may go red.
Schumer has outperformed Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader, in judicial confirmations. Since Biden’s election, 69 new judges have been appointed to the bench.
Republicans have required Democrats to call Cloture votes on all 69 Biden nominees so far this term. At this point in Trump’s term, Democrats only required cloture votes for two of Trump’s 42 appointments. However, they made it standard practice for almost all of Trump’s picks.
However, in a world where the judicial filibuster has been eliminated, the almost uniform resistance of Republicans to Biden’s nominees doesn’t really slow down Senate Democrats. They’ll still have to catch Trump’s total of 234 federal judges. During his last two years, the former president increased his speed.
Desai and the White House did not immediately respond to our requests for comment.
