On 11/30/2023, Connecticut law professor Sarah Russell’s nomination to the federal court suffered through another brutal Senate judiciary committee hearing that focused again on her decision to sign what amounts to an anti-prison manifesto.

But in the end she was approved on a narrow 11-10 party line vote and the nomination was sent to the full Senate for confirmation.

Republicans attacked Russell, as they did during an earlier hearing, over a 2020 letter she signed with hundreds of others calling on Gov. Ned Lamont to release thousands of state prison and jail inmates at the start of the pandemic and “declare a moratorium on incarceration” during it.

The letter said prisons and jails are “detrimental to human rights and disproportionately harm marginalized communities, including Black, brown, Indigenous and other communities of color; immigrants; people with mental illness; people with disabilities; people in the LGBTQ+ community; people who use drugs; people engaged in sex work and street economies; and people experiencing houselessness [sic] and poverty.”

Russell failed to deliver her writings to the committee, something she called an oversight. U.S. Sen John Kennedy, a Louisiana Republican, accused Russell of purposefully withholding a “radical” letter. “This is America,” he said. “Ms. Russell has a constitutional right to say these things, to believe those things. She does not have a constitutional right to be a federal judge. And she is not qualified to be a federal judge if those are her beliefs.”

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal said, “And she also expresses regret for failing to submit that letter,” Blumenthal said. “She made a mistake.” Kennedy retorted that he appreciated Blumenthal’s thoughts, but addressing Blumenthal directly, said he didn’t believe it.

“Richard, here is how I see it,” Kennedy said. “She got caught. She had an epiphany once she got caught. And I am looking at her qualifications. And I am looking at her record. And I don’t know that she didn’t help write this letter. I know she signed it. And I know she tried to hide it from this committee.”

Russell is a law professor at Quinnipiac University who has taught at Yale University and worked as a public defender in federal court. She is part of the cohort of federal judges nominated by Biden, who called on the Senate at the start of his term to confirm federal judges that diversity the court by race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and professional background.

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Kennedy: Judicial nominee Sarah Russell got caught, she tried to hide it from this committee