The Senate has confirmed the nomination
of Eric Dreiband to serve as the United States assistant attorney
general for the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division.
According to Reuters, the Senate voted
50-47 along party lines on Thursday.
In a statement, Attorney General Jeff
Sessions said, “Eric has distinguished himself as an outstanding
lawyer and a committed public servant.”
According to Gay
City News, Dreiband, a partner at Jones Day, defended the
University of North Carolina in the school's honoring of the state's
“bathroom bill,” which prohibited transgender people from using
the bathroom of their choice in public buildings. He also fought for
language in the Affordable Care Act that would allow medical
providers to cite their faith-based objections in discriminating
against LGBT people.
Under Sessions' leadership, the Justice
Department has taken the position that the workplace sex
discrimination protections in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 do not
apply to people who are LGBT. Sessions has also prioritized
defending “religious freedom.”
Trump nominated Dreiband to the post
more than a year ago and his nomination was strongly opposed by some
civil rights groups.