NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams’ Statement on the Supreme Court Confirmation Vote

“Rather than vote to provide COVID-19 relief to people in New York City and across the country desperately seeking aid, the Senate ignored the needs and will of the American people to confirm a Supreme Court Justice who will have a detrimental impact on New Yorkers for generations.

“This action by Republican Senators and the Trump administration is among the most grotesque embraces of hypocrisy in order to grab at power in recent history, and history will condemn it as its corrosive impact on our country reverberates for decades. Because this confirmation isn’t solely about accumulating power, it’s about using that power to oppress marginalized groups – and not just to block progress, but undo it on issues of reproductive freedom, LGBTQ rights, racial justice, healthcare access, labor protections, and countless other areas.

“Three votes are spotlighted today. The present votes for confirmation, which were cast in  cowardice. The impacted future votes of the Supreme Court, now weighted even further from being cast for true justice. And our own votes, which we must cast as a rejection of the apathy and the ideology represented by this confirmation vote. This is yet another gut-wrenching reminder that no matter one’s feelings about the politics of the moment, a single election can have devastating decades-long consequences.”