©2026 League of Conservation Voters
2019
51
41
8
Issues
The Senate considered President Trump’s nomination of Steven Menashi to be U.S. Circuit Court judge for the Second Circuit. Circuit courts are often the ultimate arbiters of highly significant cases, including those involving environmental protections, and it is critical that the judges confirmed to serve lifetime appointments on these courts are qualified, non-partisan, and committed to treating parties fairly. As an academic, Menashi expressed his personal opposition to environmental protections and climate action, making disingenuous arguments that climate action conflicts with addressing immediate pollution concerns. Menashi also took an extreme position opposing judicial deference to agency decision-making that, if applied, would undermine judicial precedent and threaten to undo critical environmental and public health protections. Notably, Menashi spent his career making extreme and inflammatory statements undermining equity for communities of color, women, and LGBTQ Americans. Given his extreme stances on a wide range of critical legal matters and his unwillingness to discuss those matters during his Senate hearing, he cannot be expected to serve fairly as a federal judge. On November 14, the Senate confirmed Menashi to the Second Circuit by a vote of 51-41 (Senate roll call vote 356). NO IS THE PRO-ENVIRONMENT VOTE.
©2026 League of Conservation Voters