GOP Senators Committed to Letting People Speak on Supreme Court Nomination

After President Obama's nomination of D.C. Circuit Chief Judge Merrick Garland to Justice Antonin Scalia's vacant seat on the Supreme Court, Senate Republicans remained steadfastly devoted to principle -- the principle that the American people should be given the opportunity to speak on the future of the Supreme Court through the election in November.  Republican Senators have made it clear for the past month that they will refuse to hold hearing on any nominee because as Sen. Mitch McConnell said, this is "about a principle, not a person."

Sen. Chuck Grassley continued his strong leadership in his statement about the nomination:

Co-equal authorities are throughout the Constitution, including Article II, Section 2, where the power to nominate an individual to the Supreme Court is granted to the President and authority is given to the Senate to provide advice and consent.  Nowhere in the Constitution does it describe how the Senate should either provide its consent or withhold its consent.  

Today the President has exercised his constitutional authority.  A majority of the Senate has decided to fulfill its constitutional role of advice and consent by withholding support for the nomination during a presidential election year, with millions of votes having been cast in highly charged contests.  As Vice President Biden previously said, it’s a political cauldron to avoid. . . .  

A lifetime appointment that could dramatically impact individual freedoms and change the direction of the court for at least a generation is too important to get bogged down in politics.  The American people shouldn’t be denied a voice.  Do we want a court that interprets the law, or do we want a court that acts as an unelected super legislature?  This year is a tremendous opportunity for our country to have a sincere and honest debate about the role of the Supreme Court in our constitutional system of government.

Sen. Kelly Ayotte emphasized the significance of the next Supreme Court justice, which is why the people should be allowed to speak on the issue:

Empowered with a lifetime appointment, the next Supreme Court justice will likely have a significant impact on the court and the people of our country for years. In the midst of a presidential election and a consequential debate about the future of our country, I believe the American people deserve to have a voice in the direction of the court. I continue to believe the Senate should not move forward with the confirmation process until the people have spoken by electing a new president.

Sen. Pat Toomey echoed the importance of the people's voice: 

With the U.S. Supreme Court's balance at stake, and with the presidential election fewer than eight months away, it is wise to give the American people a more direct voice in the selection and confirmation of the next justice.

Sen. David Vitter said:

Rather than have an insider’s political tug-of-war between the President and the Senate over a Supreme Court nomination, the American people should decide through this year’s election. So I'll be doing everything I can to give the American people a voice . . . . The President is well within his constitutional authority to name a nominee – and the Senate is well within our constitutional authority to not hold hearings or a vote. President Obama has less than a year left, but a Supreme Court Justice will impact our country for decades, and this is something we shouldn’t take lightly.

Sen. John Cornyn agreed:

While the President has the constitutional authority to make a nomination to fill this vacancy, the Senate also has the authority and responsibility to determine how to move forward with it. 

The next justice could change the ideological makeup of the Court for a generation, and fundamentally reshape American society in the process. 

At this critical juncture in our nation's history, Texans and the American people deserve to have a say in the selection of the next lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court. 

The only way to empower the American people and ensure they have a voice is for the next President to make the nomination to fill this vacancy.

The RNLA thanks Republican Senators for their leadership in allowing the American people to have a voice on the future of the Supreme Court before it becomes the most liberal Court in decades.

RNLA Spotlight: Senator Pat Toomey

Senator PatToomey will address the RNLA at the Capitol Hill Club on June 27 at noon. Senator Toomey and his wife Kris reside in Zionsville, Pennsylvania with their three children Bridget, Patrick and Duncan. He graduated from Harvard College with an A.B. in Government and previously was a member of the House of Representatives where he promised to only serve three-terms, which he fulfilled. After leaving the House of Representatives, Toomey served as President of the Club for Growth until he was elected to the United States Senate in 2010. He also has owned and operated a small restaurant chain in the Lehigh Valley and worked in the financial services industry.

Since coming to Washington Senator Toomey has been a leader on economic, financial services, and budget issues. He is known throughout the halls of Congress as a champion of fiscal responsibility. The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that he has emerged as "a leading voice on money matters."
He helped write and enact the bipartisan JOBS Act, which cuts regulatory burdens on small and medium-sized businesses making it easier for them to raise capital and create jobs.

Currently, Senator Toomey serves on the Finance; Banking; Budget; and Joint Economic committees. Additionally, he is the chairman of the Senate Steering Committee - the coalition of Republican senators that advocates for innovative, conservative policies.

Senator Toomey has also been one of the leading voices in the Senate regarding the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups. Speaking ahead of Tuesday's Senate Finance Committee hearing on the IRS matter, the Pennsylvania Republican and member of the committee said the appearance that the IRS misdeeds were politically motivated may poison the well of the already sparse congressional goodwill.

“I certainly would hate to see us unable to make progress where it's important to make progress,” Toomey told a conference call of Pennsylvania journalists. “But I have to tell you, the legislative process does require trust and the process of reaching an agreement requires mutual trust and you have an administration plagued with scandals, it does make it more difficult. My hope is the president would handle this properly.”

Nobody should be under the illusion that this is some kind of innocuous screening,” he said. “This was done with the intent, and in fact the result, of long delays.” Such delays in granting tax-exempt status, he said, prompted many conservative groups to give up on the process.

And where initial inquiries into the IRS' actions did not indicate specific responsibility, Toomey said he hoped the committee would ferret out the names of the administrators who called for the specialized treatment.

“The Inspector General's report doesn't specify who initiated the first round of screenings, nor who authorized the resumption of screenings,” he said. “But we ought to know who authorized the IRS to begin screening conservative groups as they sought an application for tax exempt status.”

Join the RNLA in DC and hear Senator Toomey speak on these and many important issues this Thursday.