Tag: SCOTUS

Posted on

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell: No Vote On Any SCOTUS Nominee This Year

In a speech from the floor of the U.S. Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) repeated his stance that Senate Republicans will not allow any nominee put forward by President Obama to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.

“Presidents have a right to nominate just as the Senate has its constitutional right to provide or withhold consent. In this case, the Senate will withhold it,” McConnell said. “The Senate will appropriately revisit the matter after the American people finish making in November the decision they’ve already started making today.”

The U. S. Constitution tasks the president with the responsibility to appoint judges to the Supreme Court, and charges the Senate to “advise and consent.” No where in the Constitution does it say the Senate can “withhold” it’s responsibility.

And folks wonder why Congress has such low approval numbers?

Posted on

GOP Sen. Mark Kirk Open To Obama Nominee For SCOTUS

Sen. Mark Kirk

Illinois Republican Sen. Mark Kirk has taken a step away from his party indicating that he is open to considering a Supreme Court nominee put forward by President Obama.

“I recognize the right of the president, be it Republican or Democrat, to place before the Senate a nominee for the Supreme Court and I fully expect and look forward to President Barack Obama advancing a nominee for the Senate to consider,” Kirk writes in a Chicago Sun-Times oped posted Monday afternoon.

“I also recognize my duty as a senator to either vote in support or opposition to that nominee following a fair and thorough hearing along with a complete and transparent release of all requested information,” he added. “The Senate’s role in providing advice and consent is as important and significant as the president’s role in proposing a nominee.”

Kirk’s comments represent a stark departure from those made by Republican Party leadership. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has warned Obama not to even nominate a replacement for the late Antonin Scalia, because the GOP-controlled Senate will not act on it. McConnell, and the vast majority of his party, argue that the next president should get to choose the nominee — in hopes, of course, that the next president will be a Republican.

In addition to Kirk, Republican Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Dan Coats (R-Ind.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) have stated they may be open to considering an Obama nominee.

Posted on

Human Rights Campaign Advocates For LGBT Supreme Court Justice

Today in an op-ed for The Advocate, HRC President Chad Griffin called on President Obama to build on his legacy of LGBT equality by nominating an openly LGBT Supreme Court justice.

From Griffin’s op-ed:

If the president truly wanted to be bold and bring in greater diversity to the bench, he could look to the LGBT leaders outside of the federal judiciary. We can look to our publicly elected officials for brilliant legal minds who have fought for LGBT equality on behalf of their constituents. Like Senator Tammy Baldwin, the first elected openly-LGBT U.S. Senator who introduced the Equality Act in the Senate. Or Oregon Governor Kate Brown, who championed a ban on so-called “conversion therapy” in the state, protecting LGBT children. Or Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who spearheaded the state’s challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act. These elected officials bring experience to the bench not only as members of the LGBT community, but as people with legislative and federal experience that has largely lacked from previous Supreme Court justices. And of course, there are more qualified candidates from across the legal and political realms whose lived experiences as being gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender would inform their time on the bench.

Despite the overwhelming support for full LGBT equality, millions in our community are still at risk of discrimination and violence in their daily lives all across the country.

It is time for an openly LGBT justice on our Supreme Court who will both affirm and symbolize our country’s commitment to full legal equality for its LGBT citizens.’

Posted on

Democratic National Committee Launches SCOTUS Media Campaign #FillTheSeat

The Democratic National Committee has launched a new media campaign to underscore the importance of having a full slate of nine Supreme Court Justices in response to Senate Republicans’ push for leaving the seat open for a year so the “next president” can nominate.

This will be a series of videos highlighting how every day Americans are impacted by leaving Justice Scalia’s seat vacant. Today begins with LGBT rights – “We’re Not Done” – and how cases brought to SCOTUS could be affected.

Posted on

John Oliver On The Truth About Filling A Supreme Court Vacancy

John Oliver, host of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight,” kills it on this segment addressing the recent passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and the sudden brouhaha by Senate Republicans claiming SCOTUS justices simply aren’t nominated in the fourth year of a president’s term:

GOP presidential contender Ted Cruz established an arbitrary 80-year time frame during which he said no president ever got a hearing for a nominee in the last year of his term, but Oliver pointed out that Cruz was wrong.

Dead wrong. Five times wrong.

Five nominees came before the Senate during that period, with three making it onto the highest court in the land.

Oliver then turned his eye on the Judicial Crisis Network — a conservative advocacy group that stumps for hardline right-wing judicial appointments — for their ad claiming “We the people” should wait until a new president is sworn in and let that president choose.

Oliver pointed out that “We have a perfectly good president” right now who was re-elected three years ago and is entirely capable of making that decision.

Of course, the bottom line is President Obama was elected to a second FOUR year term, not three year term. And it is his responsibility to nominate a replacement for SCOTUS, and the Senate’s job is to “advise and consent.” Not block anything from happening.

It’s a bad move by Republicans as it just cements the perception that they are the party of “no,” and nothing else.

Posted on

Poll: 53% Of Americans Don’t Want Senate To Block Obama SCOTUS Nominee

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has stated that he and his fellow Senate Republicans feel Americans should have a voice in who selects the next Supreme Court justice.

Well, it looks like “the people” want President Obama to name a nominee, and they don’t want the Senate to block that nomination.

A new poll from Rasmussen Reports, a typically right-leaning polling outfit, shows that voters would rather Obama to fill the vacancy rather than waiting until after the next presidential election.

The poll found that 51 percent of likely voters believe that Obama nominate Scalia’s successor, and 53 percent believe the Senate should not “reject or refuse to consider” the nomination.

Only 35 percent favor the kind of obstruction advocated by McConnell.

In the last couple of days, at least three Republican Senators – Sen. Ron Johnson, Sen. Thom Tillis and Sen. Chuck Grassley – have signaled they might be open to hearings or a vote on an Obama nominee.

More at Think Progress.

Posted on

President Obama: “The Constitution Is Pretty Clear” On Nominating Supreme Court Justices

After several Senate Republicans stated they did not want to hold hearings on a new Supreme Court justice nominee this year, President Obama addressed those would delay the process of replacing recently deceased Justice Antonin Scalia:

“The Constitution is pretty clear about what is supposed to happen now,” Obama said at a press conference Tuesday at the U.S.-ASEAN summit in California.

“When there is vacancy on the Supreme Court, the president of the United States is to nominate someone, the Senate is to consider that nomination, and either they disapprove of that nominee or that nominee is elevated to the Supreme Court,” Obama continued. “Historically, this has not been viewed as a question. There’s no unwritten law that says it can only be done in off years, that’s not in the constitutional text.”

Obama stressed that there was “more then enough time” for the Senate to consider the nominee he submits for consideration.

Posted on

How Long Did It Take To Confirm The Current Supreme Court Justices?

Senate Republicans are digging in their heels saying there will be no votes on any Supreme Court nominee to replace Antonin Scalia because “there’s not enough time?”

Check out the stats on how long it took from nomination to confirmation for each of the current SCOTUS justices.

There are 350+ days left in Obama’s administration.

Plenty of time, folks, plenty of time.