To: The United States Senate
Tell the Senate: Fulfill your constitutional duty to consider Supreme Court nominees
Fulfill your constitutional duty. Work with President Obama to fill the vacancy at the Supreme Court without delay.
Why is this important?
Just hours after news broke that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia had passed away, Mitch McConnell was already trying to exploit the unfortunate news for political gain.
Senate Majority Leader McConnell rushed out a radical claim: That the Senate should shirk its constitutional duty to consider and confirm Supreme Court nominees, simply because it’s an election year.
That’s not how it worked when Ronald Reagan nominated Anthony Kennedy to the Supreme Court in an election year (1988) and the Democratic Senate confirmed him.
The U.S. Constitution specifically states that the Senate should give “advice and consent” on Supreme Court nominations by the president.
The Constitution has no exception for election years.
It’s clear that McConnell is looking for any excuse to block President Obama from naming another justice to the Supreme Court.
Mitch McConnell knows what we all know. The future of reproductive rights, overturning Citizens United, labor rights, and Obama’s Clean Power Plan all hang in the balance.
Tell the Senate: Fulfill your constitutional duty. Work with President Obama to fill the vacancy at the Supreme Court without delay.