Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware Slams Governor Carney's Nomination to Court of Chancery, Plans Aggressive Campaign to Stop His Confirmation

WILMINGTON, Del., Jan. 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Following Delaware Governor John Carney's announcement that he is nominating Paul Fioravanti, Jr. to serve as Vice Chancellor on the Delaware Court of Chancery, Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware (CPBD) Campaign Manager Chris Coffey has released the following statement:

"Earlier this morning, Justice Tamika Montgomery-Reeves was sworn in to serve on the Delaware Supreme Court, making history as the first African American to serve on the state's highest court. It was an incredible victory for a state that is severely behind in ensuring its judiciary is truly representative of the people who live here.  

Justice Montgomery-Reeves' swearing-in was a bold step forward to a brighter future for Delaware's judicial system.

But the day has been darkened by Governor Carney's nomination of Paul Fioravanti Jr. to replace Justice Montgomery-Reeves on the Delaware Chancery Court. Rather than actually creating diversity to the Delaware judiciary, Governor Carney simply transferred it from one court to another before turning around and replacing a diverse Chancery Court Justice with another member of Delaware's elite old boys' club.

Should he be confirmed, Mr. Fioravanti's presence on the Chancery Court will mean that not a single member of the archaic and historically unaccountable institution will be a person of color, and just two will be women. Coming from a Delaware law firm with no black lawyers, Mr. Fioravanti's nomination is yet another gross symptom of how mostly-white, high-powered law firms are pipelines for meaningful posts in the Delaware court system.

Just when we thought we made progress, Governor Carney failed the hundreds of thousands of Delawareans of color who are already vastly underrepresented in this state's courts.

CPBD strongly urges Governor Carney to reconsider this nomination immediately, and should he fail to do so, we will begin an aggressive campaign urging the Delaware Senate to reject his nomination. As we've done for several months, we will take our message to the streets and the airwaves, and we will make sure that every single Delaware Senator who sides with the status quo over a truly representative judiciary, is held accountable."

Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware is a group made up of more than 5,000 members including employees of the global translation services company TransPerfect, as well as concerned Delaware residents, business executives and others. They formed in April of 2016 to focus on raising awareness with Delaware residents, elected officials, and other stakeholders about the issue. While their primary goal of saving the company has been accomplished, they continue their efforts to fight for more transparency in the Delaware Chancery Court. For more information on Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware or to join the cause, visit DelawareForBusiness.org.

Contact: Chris Coffey, [email protected]

SOURCE Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware

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