Biden’s nominee for the district judge for the Central District of California was unwilling to say whether she believes racial discrimination was wrong during a Tuesday hearing.
QUICK FACTS:
- Kenly Kiya Kato, a district judge nominee to the Central District of California, was unwilling to answer questions from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on racial discrimination.
- Cruz pressed Kato about discrimination during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee when the nominee declined to answer, according to BizPac Review.
- When questioned repeatedly Kato responded by saying that judges don’t deal with “issues of morality.”
- The nominee declined to answer because she said it is an issue frequently litigated in the courts, Fox News reported.
DETAILS OF THE EXCHANGE:
- Cruz asked Kato “Is racial discrimination wrong?” to which the judge replied “Senator, our Constitution prohibits race discrimination. Discrimination on the basis of race.”
- When Cruz asked the question again, Kato replied “Senator as a judge, I don’t deal with issues of morality or whether something you —” Cruz interjected. “You have no views on whether it’s right or wrong?”
- “Senator because that is an issue that is frequently litigated before the courts pursuant to Canon three of the Code of Conduct,” Kato replied.
- “Senator, I think it’s part of the Constitution and this nation’s history of aiming for equal justice and treating people regardless of any protected class status equally and fairly,” Kato said when asked the question in another way.
- “So discriminating based on race violates, I think you just said, our Constitution’s history of aiming for justice,” Cruz responded. “Is that a fair characterization?” to which Kato declined to answer whether racial discrimination is prohibited under the law.
BACKGROUND:
- Kato served as a federal magistrate on the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California since 2014, according to Balls and Strikes.
- Prior to that From 2004 to 2014, Kato was a solo practitioner, focusing on federal criminal defense, civil rights, and employment issues, and from 1997 to 2003, Kato was a Deputy Federal Public Defender in the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Los Angeles.
