Dear Chairman Graham and Ranking Member Feinstein,
The undersigned organizations represent hundreds of thousands of Americans standing in strong support of the nomination of Neomi Rao to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Professor Rao’s academic qualifications and professional experiences are exceptional — Bachelor of Arts cum laude from Yale University, Juris Doctor with high honors from the University of Chicago Law School where she was a Law Review editor. She was a visiting professor at the University of Minnesota Law School. And she is now an Associate Professor with tenure at George Mason University School of Law, where she founded the Center for the Study of the Administrative State.
As you know, in the summer of 2017, the U.S. Senate confirmed Prof. Rao as the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, where she has excelled as a thoughtful, serious, and honest public servant. She had previously served as Associate Counsel and Special Assistant to the President under President George W. Bush where she, again, distinguished herself as a prominent legal intellect.
The wealth and depth of her knowledge has stellar grounding. She was counsel for nominations and constitutional law for this very committee from 2000-2001. She clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. And she was also an Associate in the international arbitration group for Clifford Chance LLP in London, England.
These experiences and qualifications make her a perfect nominee for this judicial appointment at the D.C. Circuit. We are confident that her stellar career and unique background will serve the American people and the cause of justice for years to come.
We are aware that some are mischaracterizing some of Prof. Rao’s school writings to serve petty political purposes. But these caricatures of her work are not based on reality, and we hope this committee will not engage in the sort of malicious character assassination we have seen with other recent nominations.
Prof. Rao, even as a student, is and was a serious, distinguished, and courageous legal voice grappling with some of the most serious issues of our time. Her writings should be taken as such. It challenges us to think through serious legal questions and consider many angles to develop our own thinking as we consider her astute perspective. Prof. Rao’s career should be celebrated and honored, not caricatured and maligned for political purposes. We owe a great debt of gratitude for her contribution to the legal and public policy fields. We hope this committee will treat her with the seriousness and respect she deserves.
She represents the best our country has to offer. There is no question she should be overwhelmingly confirmed.
Penny Nance
CEO & President
Concerned Women for America
Mathew Staver, Esq.
Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel
Rick Manning
President
Americans for Limited Government
Curt Levey
President
The Committee for Justice
George K. Rasley, Jr.
Managing Editor
ConservativeHQ.com
Gary Marx
Senior Advisor
Judicial Crisis Network
Gayle S. Trotter
President
American Womens Alliance, Inc.
Timothy Head
Executive Director
Faith & Freedom Coalition
David Warrington
President
Republican National Lawyers Association
Maria Zack
Nations in Action
Philip B. Haney
Founding Member, DHS
Customs & Border Protection (CBP), Ret.
Ashley Baker
Director of Public Policy
Committee for Justice
Rabbi Aryeh Spero
Caucus for America