SCOTUS Brief 2/18/2016
JCN Launches TV, Radio and Digital Ad Campaign – Major Media Polls Show Americans on an Obama Nominee – WaPo: Why Senate GOP Won’t Hold a Supreme Court Vote This Year
- The Judicial Crisis Network launched a seven figure television, radio and digital advertising campaign on the importance of the Supreme Court in the upcoming presidential election.
Washington Post: Ads pressure Republicans not to cave on SCOTUS vacancy
“A conservative legal group is looking to stiffen the spines of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and swing-state Republican senators in the upcoming fight over replacing the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court. The Judicial Crisis Network announced a seven-figure advertising campaign aimed at pressuring McConnell and six other senators to hold off on any aspect of considering a replacement for Scalia until after President Obama leaves office… The members targeted are Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Ron Johnson (Wis.), John McCain (Ariz.), Rob Portman (Ohio) and Pat Toomey (Pa.). A 30-second television ad titled “Let the People Decide” will run in Washington, D.C. during the Sunday political talk shows and in senators’ home media markets, the group announced. The ad buy includes radio and digital campaigns in addition to TV content.”
Read Chief Counsel and Policy Director Carrie Severino’s statement.
- A pair of major media polls out in the last 24 hours both show the American electorate divided on whether the Senate should vote on a potential nominee named by President Obama:
WSJ/NBC Poll: Americans Divided on Whether Senate Should Consider Obama Supreme Court Nominee
“Americans are just as divided as politicians over whether the Senate should consider President Barack Obama’s forthcoming nominee for the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia… Voters who identified as independent were almost evenly divided, 43% to 42%, on whether senators should take up a court pick this year.”
CBS News poll: Americans Divided Over U.S. Supreme Court
“With an unexpected vacancy on the Supreme Court as a result of Justice Antonin Scalia’s death, it’s unclear if he will be replaced before the November election… Views are highly partisan: 82 percent of Republicans would like to see the next president appoint Justice Scalia’s replacement, while 77 percent of Democrats want President Obama to make that appointment.”
- Washington Post Political Analyst Chris Cillizza writes the WSJ/NBC poll shows why the Senate GOP will never hold a Supreme Court vote this year.
“The key takeaway here…is that people are divided right down the middle on what the right next step is when it comes to filling Scalia’s vacancy. That means there is likely to be very little blowback if and when President Obama’s pick doesn’t wind up getting a vote before the November election. There is no groundswell for a vote out in the country.”
- CNN Highlights GOP Strategy on Supreme Court succession
CNN: Republicans weigh denying Supreme Court nominee a hearing
“Senior Senate Republicans are growing more comfortable with the idea of denying President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court pick a hearing, arguing privately that the risk of giving the nominee a platform to shine far outweighs the benefits…Republicans are arguing that denying a hearing to Obama’s choice would allow them to better make the case that voters should have a say in the next Supreme Court justice — not members of the Senate and a lame-duck president. If Republicans held confirmation proceedings, several Republicans told CNN, that argument would be badly muddied.”
