Chris Coons, D-Delaware, told CNN he intends to vote for Delaney. While a majority of Democrats on the Judiciary Committee – including its chairman – are noncommittal about supporting Delaney’s nomination, none has expressed outright opposition. This is something that I will personally speak to the senator about.’ We take that as very encouraging language.” “We have seen a number of the Senate staffers say, ‘We are taking this very seriously. “He is being looked at very closely now,” Alexander Prout told CNN in an interview. Now, the Prouts have turned their focus to other Senate Democrats and have spoken with the offices of nearly every Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, hoping to convince at least one to oppose the nomination. Instead, Delaney’s nomination sat on ice for months, until he was officially nominated in January. “We felt strongly that if they just understood what Delaney had done, that they would very quickly pull back this nomination.” “We wanted to give them the opportunity to withdraw this nomination,” Alexander Prout, Chessy’s father, said. The parents also met via Zoom in April with Shaheen’s and Hassan’s staff to express their concerns, hoping the senators would withdraw their support and seek a different nominee. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, the Democratic senators from New Hampshire, and reached out to the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Policy, which is responsible for vetting judicial nominees and submitting a report to the White House.įollowing the outreach, the Prouts said a DOJ official contacted them last April and interviewed them all extensively about Delaney’s involvement in the 2016 lawsuit. The current uncertainty around Delaney’s nomination comes after months of efforts by Prout and her family to raise concerns about his selection – before the choice was even publicly announced – with the Biden administration and New Hampshire’s senators, who submitted Delaney’s name to the White House to fill the judicial vacancy in their state.Īfter catching wind last April that Delaney was slated to be nominated for the position, the Prouts sought meetings with the staff of Sens. “And now, to have the very person who inspired me to seek justice nominate the attorney who tried to tamper and take away my right to anonymity in my search for justice is just astounding,” Prout told CNN in an interview. Prout said she was inspired to seek justice at the time by the “It’s On Us” sexual assault prevention campaign Biden had led as vice president. After Delaney’s filing, the victim, Chessy Prout, decided to identify herself publicly her family withdrew their motion for anonymity and the case was ultimately settled with a confidential agreement. In the event the case went to trial, Delaney argued she should be stripped of her anonymity entirely, which the victim’s family believes was intended to have a chilling effect.ĭelaney has defended his approach to the case, arguing it was in line with how another court handled a similar dispute and promising that, if confirmed, he would follow newer precedent from the 1st Circuit concerning anonymity in sexual assault cases. Representing the boarding school where the assault took place, Delaney argued that the victim should only remain anonymous if certain conditions were met. The White House is standing by its nominee, raising the possibility that Biden will face his first public judicial setback at the hands of his own party.įormer New Hampshire Attorney General Michael Delaney, Biden’s nominee for the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals, is facing serious questions about his handling of a 2016 civil suit related to the sexual assault of a minor. … We very much believe that we still have a rape culture and we'd like to try to shift that to a survivor-informed culture where people understand that after murder, sexual assault is probably one of the most egregious, heinous crimes against a human," Prout said.Two weeks after President Joe Biden’s nominee for a prized federal judgeship appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee, a majority of Democrats on that panel have yet to commit to supporting his nomination. "It's affected how we live, where we live, where we work, and how we support Chessy, our daughter, as a survivor. Susan Prout joined "CBS This Morning" to discuss the toll it takes on a family when a sexual assault survivor comes forward with their story and what her daughter went through after she spoke out about her assault. Chessy Prout and her mother Susan became advocates for survivors after Chessy was assaulted during a game of sexual conquest at a prestigious New Hampshire prep school. Hundreds of thousands of sexual assault survivors are sharing their stories on social media about why they didn't initially report their attack. Mother of sexual assault survivor Chessy Prout offers advice for parents 05:25
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