A candidate for Connecticut’s highest court withdrew her name from consideration Friday after state lawmakers raised questions about a letter she signed in 2017 endorsing Amy Coney Barrett for a job on the federal appeals court.
Democratic Governor Ned Lamont released a statement saying Sandra Slack Glover had informed him of her decision to step down. His announcement came four days after his nominee, a federal prosecutor with no court experience, appeared at his confirmation hearing. before the Democratic-controlled Judiciary Committee. In an unusual move, the committee abstained from the approval vote.
As the week progressed, it became increasingly doubtful that Glover had enough support to clear the committee vote, despite the insistence of the Lamont administration.
“Attorney Sandra Slack Glover would have been a distinguished judge of the Connecticut Supreme Court,” Lamont said in a written statement. I stand by and support her as an experienced, personable, and compassionate attorney, while respecting her decision today to withdraw from consideration. »
Emails and phone messages have been left for comment from Glover. Lamont said he will consider other candidates who share his “values” and are “committed to the principles of fairness, equality, and fairness under the law” in the coming months.
In January, New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, had to find a replacement for her nominee to lead the state’s highest court after she declined. by a Senate committee. The vote came after weeks of criticism of the judge’s case from progressive activists and union officials.
Glover tried to assure Connecticut lawmakers that she would not sign the 2017 letter if she knew Barrett would later vote to overturn abortion protections in Roe v. Wade as a member of the US Supreme Court.
Glover said she wouldn’t “demonize” Barrett, but when I go back to that letter now… I’m not comfortable with some of those statements anymore. »
“But I also thought, with apparent naivety at this point, that there were security barriers,” she said, referring to the judges’ respect for case law. And I thought the lower court justices were constrained. I thought the Supreme Court prohibited it. And I was wrong. Looking back and knowing what I know now, I shouldn’t have signed it. »
Glover said she was a staunch supporter of abortion rights, both from a feminist standpoint and as a feminist. Along with his position in Roe v. Wade, lawmakers questioned his lack of experience as a judge.
“Attorney Sandra Slack Glover has come under intense scrutiny from the Judiciary Committee and many members felt there were unanswered questions that undermined her assertion,” said Representative Steve Stavstrom, D-Bridgeport, the committee’s co-chair. “Although Attorney Glover is an experienced prosecutor and a talented attorney, I respect her decision to withdraw her name from consideration to become a judge of our highest court.”
