Senate Republicans have balked at confirming Keith Harper to the United Nations Human Rights Council
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted last week to move forward with Harper’s nomination in a party-line vote. It is unclear when lawmakers will debate the nominee on the Senate floor, but it is shaping up as a partisan battle.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has said Harper is unqualified to serve and cited inconsistencies in his communication with Congress.
McCain told The Hill he doesn’t know whether all Republicans will oppose the nomination when it reaches the Senate floor, but a Republican source said Harper is unlikely to get any support from GOP senators.
Reid last November held a vote to change Senate rules — the controversial nuclear option — so that most presidential nominations could be confirmed with a simple majority vote. The Senate has since confirmed 10 nominees using the new threshold.
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/198154-senate-heads-toward-fight-over-human-rights-nominee
Here's a letter from the Leadership Conference endorsing his nomination:
On behalf of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 210 national organizations to promote and protect the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States, we write to urge you to swiftly confirm Keith Harper as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
Mr. Harper is a member of the Cherokee Nation and is slated to be the first Native American to serve as an Ambassador for the United States. He has spent decades fighting for the civil and human rights of Native Americans and indigenous people here and around the world. His experience as a litigator, a judge on tribal courts, and advocate and negotiator before the Organization of American States and the United Nations on behalf of the National Congress of American Indians, makes him exceptionally well-qualified for this position.
We have worked closely with Mr. Harper for nearly 15 years on international human rights, and have witnessed firsthand his deep understanding of the law and his effective advocacy for civil and human rights across the globe. Mr. Harper has worked tirelessly in global fora to ensure that the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has been a prominent topic within the various United Nations human rights bodies. The U.N. General Assembly will be holding a World Conference on Indigenous Peoples in September 2014. Mr. Harper’s presence there on behalf of the United States will send a strong message about the United States’ commitment to the rights of indigenous peoples.
Keith Harper is deeply committed to civil and human rights and will be an effective and highly principled champion and leader for the United States on the Human Rights Council. We are confident he will serve as an Ambassador with distinction and unquestioned integrity and urge his confirmation without delay. For further information, please contact June Zeitlin, Director of Human Rights Policy, at 202-263-2852 or zeitlin@civilrights.org.
Sincerely,
Wade Henderson
President & CEO
Nancy Zirkin
Executive Vice President
http://www.civilrights.org/advocacy/letters/2013/confirm-keith-harper-as-us.html
I wonder if republicans are reluctant to approve anyone to the UN Human Rights Commission or if it is just Mr. Harper they have concerns about. They tend have a strong distrust of the UN in general and "human rights" organizations, in particular.
