Seventy-six students in the University of Iowa College of Law signed on to a letter to Iowa’s U.S. senators imploring them to oppose one of President Trump’s judicial nominations to the United States Court of Appeals, citing his political involvement in the White House and previous opinions on marginalized groups

The students sent the letter to Sens. Chuck Grassley R-Iowa, and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, both members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, urging them to vote against Steven Menahsi for his confirmation as a judge for the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, the level below the United States Supreme Court.

Grassley and Ernst’s membership on the judiciary committee means they’ll vote whether to advance the Menashi’s nomination to the full Senate for a vote. If the committee approves Menashi’s nomination, the two senators will also vote with the full chamber to determine if his nomination is confirmed.

It’s unclear when the nominee will go before the judiciary panel. Ernst spokesperson Brendan Conley wrote in an email to The Daily Iowan, that the administration didn’t think the nomination would come up this week, likely sometime in the future. He added that Ernst was still “vetting this nominee.”

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A representative for Grassley did not respond to requests for comment before publication.

The letter cited Menashi’s direct movement from a position in the White House to the judicial nomination as reason for concern over the politicization  of the judiciary.

The students also described Menashi’s treatment members of marginalized groups such as sexual assault survivors, members of the LGBTQ community, the poor, and people of color as “disparaging” in the letter.

“His biases threaten to taint the cases that could come before him, leaving people — especially the targets of his prior actions and editorials — to believe that they can no longer engage with our legal system and receive a just result,” the letter said.

Another reasoning for opposing Menashi’s nomination were his involvement in removing Title IX guidelines addressing sexual harassment in schools in 2017 and his opposition toward need-based financial aid.

“The federal judiciary is supposed to be impartial, and apolitical,” the letter said. “Such a political actor has no role on the bench.”

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The hope in sending the letter was that the senators would actually read the letter and indicate they hear what their constituents are saying, Bradley Peltin, second-year law student, said.

Politicians may be thinking about what the best thing for them to do politically, not always how their will apply to constituents, he said.

“You know, for people who are planning to have, hopefully a long career in the legal field, this is something that could directly affect us,” Peltin said.

Paul Esker, second-year law student, said the senators should consider the arguments made in the letter, not fall in line with the opinions of others and be a check on the president.

Menashi is open about his political beliefs, and judges should set their opinions aside to deal with the legal case, Esker said. Based on past actions, Menashi may not be able to separate his personal beliefs from the cases he is involved with, he added.

“[It’s] a very powerful position where we expect impartial and apolitical decisions to be made, decisions on the facts and decisions on the law,” Esker said.