For Immediate Release
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Contact: [email protected]
Senate Republicans are on the verge of shutting down the Senate to take an extended seven-week recess while ignoring their constitutional responsibility to take action on the vacancy on the Supreme Court, which has been operating with only 8 members since February.
“Senate Republicans are playing politics with the Supreme Court by shirking their duty laid out in the Constitution,” Tiffany Muller, End Citizens United Executive Director, said. “They’re afraid any reasonable nominee will side with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s view on Citizens United and the corrupting influence of dark money, leading to meaningful reform of our campaign finance system. Senate Republicans should cut their vacations short and at the very least give President Obama’s nominee a hearing and an up or down vote.”
Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution says that when a vacancy arises, the President shall nominate a replacement and the Senate shall advise and consent. President Obama exercised his duty in March when he nominated Judge Merrick Garland. The Senate has yet to take any action.
On average, the Senate has voted on a Supreme Court nomination 70 days after the President’s nomination. When Justice Scalia died, 342 days remained in this President’s term, nearly a quarter of his final term in office.
End Citizens United PAC was established in March 2015 to counter the disastrous effects of Citizens United and reform our campaign finance system. To date, more than 1.5 million grassroots members from every state and territory have taken action to support End Citizens United.
Read more on ECU from the San Francisco Chronicle: End Citizens United Aggressively Seeks Campaign Finance Reform.