Almost had a Nigerian in the White House! Almost. Unfortunately, the Senate voted 47-52 against the advancement of Debo Adegbile, President Barack Obama’s nominee to lead the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division due to a past case he tried, successfully getting a cop killer off death row. More after the click.
From the Huffington Post:
During a Thursday sitdown with reporters, Reid said that Adegbile, a respected civil rights lawyer who previously led the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, met privately with Reid and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) for nearly an hour before the vote. The three of them went through the pros and cons of proceeding with what would likely be a loss. In the end, Adegbile said he wouldn’t withdraw his name, even though Republicans and even some Democrats were ready to block him over the fact that he once helped get convicted murderer Mumia Abu-Jabal off death row.
“He said, ‘I’m 47 years old. … I’ve spent all my life trying to do the right thing,'” Reid said. “‘I didn’t step into a courtroom for this man. I didn’t write a word for the briefs for this man. … I’ve done nothing wrong. I think if I’m going to be voted down, it’s a good time to start a discussion on civil rights in America.'”
Reid said that it was a “courageous” decision by Adegbile and that “he didn’t do this lightly.”
The White House also knew going into the vote that Obama’s nominee was likely going down. Reid said he talked to Attorney General Eric Holder several times that morning as well as White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough and Vice President Joe Biden. But it was ultimately Adegbile who wanted the vote.
Democrats needed 51 Senate votes to advance Adegbile’s nomination. The final vote was 47-52, with every Republican and seven Democrats voting to stop him, citing his past representation of Abu-Jamal as the reason. Abu-Jamal was convicted some 30 years ago for killing a Philadelphia police officer, and his Senate critics said they couldn’t support an executive nominee with ties to that case.
Adegbile hadn’t made the decision to take on the case. When he became head of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in 2012, the group was already representing Abu-Jamal, and Adegbile continued to do so on a narrow constitutional issue. In other words, he was just doing his job by advocating for his client.
Click here to read the entire article for full context.
For those wanting to know more about who Debo Adegbile is, his Wikipedia page is pretty interesting:
Born Adebowale Patrick Akande Adegbile in New York City, Adegbile is the son of a Nigerian father and an Irish immigrant mother. He was raised by his single mother. He also was a child actor on the children’s TV show Sesame Street during the 1970s, playing the character Debo and performing in episodes for nine years.
Adegbile studied at Lehman College in 1986 and 1987 and earned a bachelor’s degree in 1991 from Connecticut College. He then earned a law degree from New York University School of Law in 1994.
During law school, Adegbile served as a legal assistant in the summer of 1991 for the New York law firm Solin & Breindel and then was a summer associate during the summer of 1992 for Morrison & Foerster. In the summer of 1993, Adegbile served as a summer associate for Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. He then joined the firm full-time as an associate in the firm’s litigation department in 1994, holding that position until 2001.
In 2001, Adegbile joined the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, where he served as assistant counsel from 2001 until 2004, associate director of litigation from 2004 until 2007, director of litigation from 2007 until 2010, associate director-counsel/director of litigation from 2010 until 2014, acting president and director counsel from 2012 until 2013, and special counsel in 2013. Adegbile argued his first case before the United States Supreme Court in 2008, making a defense of the Voting Rights Act.
What do you think about the Senate’s decision against his nomination?
