For Immediate Release:
March 22, 2023
For press inquiries only, contact:
Cameron Mixon (334) 242-7491
Attorney General Steve Marshall Opposes Radical SPLC Attorney Nominated for Federal Appellate Judgeship
(MONTGOMERY) Attorney General Steve Marshall today led a coalition of 18 state attorneys general in sending a letter to U.S. Senate leadership strongly opposing the nomination of Nancy Abudu to fill a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.
“Nancy Abudu is a far-left extremist who holds a leadership position at the divisive and discredited Southern Poverty Law Center, where she routinely spouts dishonest accusations of racism against law enforcement and millions of other Americans,” said Attorney General Marshall. “It is beyond belief that she would even be nominated for a federal judgeship, and even more unthinkable that she could be approved to sit on the 11th Circuit. The U.S. Senate must reject her nomination.”
Ms. Abudu is the Director of Strategic Litigation for the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization infamous for leveling unfounded charges of “hate” against its political opponents. The letter from the attorneys general documents how Ms. Abudu has used her position at the SPLC to engage in these same dishonest and divisive actions. She has compared her fellow Americans to Jim-Crow-era racists, declared our criminal-justice system to be “practically the same system as during slavery,” disparaged law enforcement as racist, and aligned herself with self-proclaimed “radical movement legal activists” who view “policing” as “the true threat to our collective safety.”
Moreover, she has consistently and baselessly disparaged Alabama, Florida, and Georgia in particular, the three states she would be called upon to judge as a member of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Ms. Abudu’s history of false and inflammatory rhetoric “doesn’t show simple professional disagreement. It shows, at best, insuperable bias. It more likely shows dishonesty. And it certainly shows unfitness for judicial office.”
The letter also details troubling recent events that underscore Ms. Abudu’s status as a uniquely radical nominee. Earlier this month, an SPLC attorney in Ms. Abudu’s office was arrested and charged with domestic terrorism during a “protest’ of law enforcement in Atlanta. In response, the SPLC defended the alleged terrorist and criticized law enforcement. As the attorneys general write, “The SPLC’s response shows the culture of its office and its attitude toward the rule of law and law enforcement.”
The letter further notes Ms. Abudu’s membership and past role as a leader in the National Lawyers Guild, a self-described group of “radical movement legal activists.” In response to the same violent protests that led to the arrest of Ms. Abudu’s coworker, the NLG declared that “policing is the true threat to our collective safety.” The attorneys general explain that “Ms. Abudu’s longstanding and ongoing association with this radical, anti-police group is yet another ground for rejecting her nomination.”
In light of her casual willingness to demonize her fellow Americans, her extensive record of inflammatory and divisive untruths, and her longtime association with dangerous and radical organizations, the attorney generals conclude their letter, “[Ms. Abudu] has . . . shown herself unfit for this lifetime appointment. Because our judiciary needs jurists who will uphold the rule of law, not-radical movement legal activists’ in robes, the Senate should reject Ms. Abudu’s nomination.”
Attorney General Marshall was joined in sending the letter by the attorneys general of the states of Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.
The full letter sent by the attorneys general can be viewed online here.
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