SCOTUS Brief 3/24/2016
Washington Post: Why the campaign to pressure Republicans to confirm Merrick Garland is failing – Iowa Republican: 400 plus Tea Party Patriots from Iowa rally behind Grassley – Cal Thomas in Townhall: A Liberal Garland for Garland – Associated Press: JCN, Susan B. Anthony List and the NRA Back Sen. Rob Portman and other Republicans over Supreme Court stance
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- It’s…not…working: The Washington Post’s James Hohmann writes that liberal efforts to intimidate Republican Senators are failing because conservatives care more about replacing the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court.
Washington Post: Why the campaign to pressure Republicans to confirm Merrick Garland is failing
“Following around Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson yesterday, a Republican battling to get reelected in a tough year for his party, underscored why so few have defected from the GOP leadership’s refusal to even grant a hearing for President Barack Obama’s pick to replace Antonin Scalia. Despite Democratic organizing efforts, right-leaning activists care more about the Supreme Court vacancy right now than liberals do. In the current climate, most conservatives – even in blue states – have no appetite for compromise…Richard Diercksmeier, a retired electrical engineer who lives in the vote-rich Milwaukee suburbs, said he heard a news report that Johnson ‘might be taking a moderate position or a flexible position’ on confirming Garland. So he drove to a manufacturing facility here, where the senator was accepting the endorsement of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, to ask him for clarification…Diercksmeier, 73, described himself as very pleased by Johnson’s answer. ‘Supreme Court appointees are almost more important than the presidency because they last so much longer,’ he said after the event. ‘I didn’t realize until this election cycle how important it is to get that right.’”
- The Iowa Republican’s Craig Robinson writes that over 400 Tea Party Patriots supporters from Iowa signed a letter thanking Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) for fighting to ensure they have a voice in who will be the next Supreme Court Justice with their votes in November.
The Iowa Republican: 400 Plus Tea Party Patriots from Iowa Rally Behind Grassley
“Senator Chuck Grassley, the chairman of the influential Senate Judiciary Committee, has stood firm on his position not to hold hearings. Now over 400 grassroots activists from Iowa have signed on to a pledge supporting Grassley’s position. Below is a letter being circulated by Tea Party Patriots thanking Grassley for recognizing that the Supreme Court will function perfectly fine with eight justices over the next ten months. The letter also encourages him to do everything in his power as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee to block President Obama from putting one more Justice on the Supreme Court. ‘Americans are looking forward to being part of this process and having our voices be heard in the November election before Justice Scalia’s replacement is confirmed,’ the letter reads.”
- Cal Thomas writes at Townhall.com that despite efforts to paint Merrick Garland as a “moderate” it is clear he is a liberal who will be a reliable vote for the left if confirmed to the Supreme Court.
Cal Thomas: A Liberal Garland for Garland
“Since President Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, a confirmed conservative, the words ‘centrist’ and ‘moderate’ have been repeated ad nauseam. They were repeated so often, in fact, that they resembled the sound of a skipping needle across a vinyl LP with dust in its grooves. Even the reliably liberal New York Times, while repeating the centrist and moderate line, acknowledged that Garland’s addition to the court ‘would make the justice at the center of the court more liberal than at any point in nearly 50 years.’…This is why Republicans are within their constitutional rights to refuse to grant Garland a hearing or a vote, especially since, according to a new Rasmussen Reports poll, ‘two-out-of-three likely U.S. voters (67 percent) are angry at the current policies of the federal government.’ Senate Republicans rightly believe a new president should make the critical next appointment to the court.”
- The Associated Press’ Julie Carr Smyth and Alan Fram write that the Judicial Crisis Network, the Susan B. Anthony List and the NRA are backing Sen. Rob Portman and other Republican Senators holding firm in the Supreme Court battle.
Associated Press: Rallies urge GOP senators to back Supreme Court vote
“As part of a $2 million advertising blitz over the next three weeks, the conservative Judicial Crisis Network said it was beginning radio and Internet ads in Ohio backing Portman. ‘Senator Portman thinks that during a heated election, with harsh rhetoric and America divided, it’s wrong to nominate someone without the American people’s input,’ the announcer says. The group also planned to run versions of the ad on TV in Iowa and New Hampshire — backing Grassley, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman who is refusing to hold hearings on Garland, and Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte, who is running for re-election. And it was airing ads in the home states of Democratic Sens. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Michael Bennet of Colorado. The Susan B. Anthony List and other anti-abortion groups were using a website, www.ProtecttheCourt.com, to contact their senators. The National Rifle Association was urging its supporters to tell their senators to back the GOP position, using email and the group’s Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat sites. ‘Contact your U.S. senators now to oppose Obama’s attempt to stack the Supreme Court against our right to keep and bear arms,’ the NRA’s legislative arm wrote in mass email.”
