Voting Rights, Religious Freedom at Risk from Joshua Divine Nomination, Vote No

Joshua Divine must be rejected from a lifetime appointment as a federal judge. In addition to a legal career distinguished mainly by political loyalty to a wannabe king and fighting to let the government interfere with our private lives, he has endorsed views that can’t be squared with our national values and a judge’s responsibility to the Constitution. Our rights to vote and to follow our own religious beliefs are at heart of what makes Americans free. Failing to protect them has been part of some of the darkest and most shameful chapters of our history, and we lionize those who fought for them. Divine has written in favor of literacy tests, a central weapon for voter suppression during Jim Crow, and one whose entire purpose is to deny people the power to decide how they are governed. He has also commented that Christians are “obliged ethically to impose their beliefs on others,” an obligation that you simply cannot fulfill while also upholding the rights of everyone to their own religious practice as guaranteed in the First Amendment. These positions are disqualifying, and you need to vote no on his nomination to protect our democratic rights and our religious freedom.