Letter to Senate Expressing Concern regarding the Rejection of Adegbile Nomination

SUMMARY

City Bar President Carey Dunne wrote to U.S. Senate leaders to express concern over the Senate’s recent vote in opposition to the confirmation of Debo Adegbile to head the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice. The letter, drafted by the Committee on Capital Punishment, said the rejection of Mr. Adegbile’s nomination principally on the ground that he represented a death-row inmate is contrary to the fundamental American principle of access to justice and sends a chilling message to the legal profession that any lawyer who may at some point want to serve in a public office should refuse to represent a client, no matter how meritorious the case, if that client is unpopular. The letter urged that the Senate reconsider Mr. Adegbile’s nomination.