FreedomWorks Urges Republican Members of Senate Judiciary Not to Consider Any Supreme Court Nominee

FreedomWorks CEO Adam Brandon sent a letter to Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Tuesday morning urging them not to consider any nominee to the Supreme Court until the American people express their views on the matter in November, through their choice of the next president.

FreedomWorks’ community of grassroots conservative activists sent nearly 300,000 messages to Senate Republicans in less than 24 hours between February 29 and March 1. Since the initial round of messages, another 265,000 messages have been delivered, bringing the total to well over half a million. The refrain was simple and direct: Give the people a say in determining the future direction of the Court. No hearings, no votes on Supreme Court nominees until the next president takes office.

In the letter to Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Sen. McConnell, Brandon warned of the damage to the Constitution and rule of law that another radical liberal on the Supreme Court could cause. The text of Brandon’s letter is below. The full letter is available here.

“On behalf of our 5.7 million members nationwide, we strongly urge you to avoid holding hearings to consider any nominee to the Supreme Court until the next president is sworn into office.”

“With the sudden passing of Justice Antonin Scalia, the balance of the Supreme Court has been unexpectedly thrown into disarray in the middle of an election year. For years, the court has been ideologically balanced, with many crucial cases coming down to a single swing vote. Now, one of the most liberal presidents in history wants to appoint a replacement for one of the most conservative justices, while denying the American people the opportunity to express their views on the matter this November.”

“FreedomWorks recognizes that the Senate’s constitutional responsibility to provide ‘advice and consent’ for Supreme Court nominees must, if it is to mean anything at all, include the withholding of consent, as well as its provision. With this in mind, FreedomWorks activists sent nearly 300,000 messages in less than 24 hours to Senate Republicans, asking that they refuse to consider a new Supreme Court nominee until the next president is in office. This incredible response shows how much the American people want a chance to weigh in on the future direction of the Court and how passionate they are about upholding Justice Scalia’s legacy and preventing President Obama from transforming the Court into a vehicle for a radically liberal agenda for decades to come. Right now, your leadership is the only thing standing in the way of such a constitutional disaster.”

“The issues that come before the Supreme Court are of enormous importance to the preservation of our liberties and of our constitutional republic. The Constitution was meant to limit government’s power, but it loses its teeth when the Court adopts a loose interpretation of the text. Justice Scalia devoted his life to a textualist interpretation of the Constitution, yet we now find ourselves just a single vote away from a progressive majority on the Court that would rewrite our nation’s founding document. The prospect of President Obama filling Justice Scalia’s seat with a rubber stamp for the progressive agenda presents a danger to limited government and the rule of law unlike any we have faced in decades.”

“The situation currently facing the Senate is extraordinarily unusual. Despite Senate Democrats pretending that the confirmation of Justice Anthony Kennedy in 1988 is an analogous situation, the truth is that it has been well over a hundred years since an opposition party confirmed a nominee for a Supreme Court vacancy that occurred in the final year of a presidential term. To our knowledge, no such confirmation has ever occurred when the ideological balance of the court was so clearly at stake.”

“Section 3 of the Republican Party Platform states: ‘We are the party of the Constitution, the solemn compact which confirms our God-given individual rights and assures that all Americans stand equal before the law. Perhaps the greatest political document ever written, it defines the purposes and limits of government and is the blueprint for ordered liberty that makes the U.S. the world’s freest, most stable, and most prosperous nation.’ To capitulate to the demands of the White House, the Democratic Party, left-wing interest groups, and the liberal press to confirm a nominee under the current president would be an unacceptable abdication of Republican principles.”

“We want to thank you for your commitment to holding firm on this issue and insisting that the American people have a chance to democratically determine the shape of the Supreme Court. We trust that, in the face of the inevitable political pressures, your resolve will remain strong and your opposition to confirmation hearings adamant.”

FreedomWorks aims to educate, build, and mobilize the largest network of activists advocating the principles of smaller government, lower taxes, free markets, personal liberty and the rule of law. For more information, please visit www.FreedomWorks.org or contact Jason Pye at JPye@freedomworks.org.