Dear Senators Grassley and Durbin:

On behalf of the National Women’s Law Center (the “Law Center”), an organization that has advocated on behalf of women and girls for over fifty years, we write in strong opposition to the nomination of Judge Lee P. Rudofsky to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Our opposition is grounded directly in Judge Rudofsky’s judicial record. On the bench, he has repeatedly narrowed the tools civil rights plaintiffs rely on, dismissed cases on technical grounds that ignore the real-world harm alleged, and written opinions that read less like impartial adjudication than like arguments for the extreme positions he advocated for prior to his appointment as a district court judge. Our concern is not merely rooted in disagreement with judicial outcomes, but rather how he judges and applies the law.

As a district court judge, Judge Rudofsky has shown a willingness to rewrite settled precedent and procedural norms to forward an ideological agenda, preemptively close the courthouse door on civil rights claims, and casually dismiss the stakes for the people in front of him. Further, Judge Rudofsky is yet another Trump loyalist on an appellate court already stacked with his nominees.¹ President Trump did not praise Judge Rudofsky’s neutrality or judicial temperament when he announced the nomination; he praised him as a “rock solid defender” of a specific political agenda—one that consistently undermines women, LGBTQ+ people, people of color, and survivors.² Judge Rudofsky’s record raises significant doubt about his ability to be an independent and evenhanded judge on the Eighth Circuit.

Read the full letter linked here.