Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee have reaffirmed their pledge to not allow a vote on President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, who will most likely support abortion. Despite some erroneous reports falsely indicating Republicans would back down, the two penned an opinion column saying they are firm in their resolve to deny a vote and wait on the next president to take office.
After Scalia’s death, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the Senate will not take up a vote on a replacement for deceased pro-life Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia until after the presidential election.
Such a promise prevents pro-abortion President Barack Obama from selecting a third pro-abortion Supreme Court justice to follow Sonia Sotomayor and Elana Kagan, both of whom are thoroughly committed to unlimited abortions and upholding Roe v. Wade.
Democrats have been aggressively lobbying McConnell and other Republicans to change their mind, but McConnell and Judiciary Committee Chair Charles Grassley, an Iowa senator, are budging.
SIGN THE PETITION: Do Not Allow a Vote on Any Obama Supreme Court Nominee
Drawing a line in the sand, they write:
Finding the right person to take the seat [Scalia] occupied will clearly be a monumental task.
It may be a consequential challenge, but we think it’s one the American people are more than equipped to tackle.
Rarely does a Supreme Court vacancy occur in the final year of a presidential term, and the Senate has not confirmed a nominee to fill a vacancy arising in such circumstances for the better part of a century. So the American people have a particular opportunity now to make their voice heard in the selection of Scalia’s successor as they participate in the process to select their next president — as they decide who they trust to both lead the country and nominate the next Supreme Court justice. How often does someone from Ashland, Ky., or Zearing, Iowa, get to have such impact?
We don’t think the American people should be robbed of this unique opportunity. Democrats beg to differ. They’d rather the Senate simply push through yet another lifetime appointment by a president on his way out the door.
Given that we are in the midst of the presidential election process, we believe that the American people should seize the opportunity to weigh in on whom they trust to nominate the next person for a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court. It is today the American people, rather than a lame-duck president whose priorities and policies they just rejected in the most-recent national election, who should be afforded the opportunity to replace Justice Scalia.
Leading pro-life advocates agree the Senate should not vote on Scalia’s replacement until after a new president has been selected.
National Right to Life president Carol Tobias says, “The vacancy should be filled by the president who is elected on November 8, 2016.”
“Certainly, the Constitution gives President Obama the authority to nominate a replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia – but the Constitution also makes it clear that the vacancy will endure until the U.S. Senate gives “consent” to a nominee. There are various ways that the Senate may refuse to consent, including inaction on a nomination, which is what should occur in this case,” she says.
Tobias continued: “That is because this is not primarily about the professional credentials of a particular nominee – it is about who decides whether unborn children will be protected, whether religious liberty will be protected, and whether the free-speech rights of groups out of favor with the liberal elites will be protected (among other things).”
Tobias says the stakes are monumentally high for pro-life voters and that waiting to vote is critically important to unborn children:
There is little doubt that the next Obama nominee would provide the fifth vote to strip elected legislators of all meaningful authority to protect unborn children and regulate abortion. The result would be invalidation not only of recently enacted state abortion laws, such as the abortion clinic regulations currently before the Court, but also of a host of longstanding state and federal pro-life policies, including the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act and the Hyde Amendment.
In addition, there is little doubt that another Obama nominee would be the fifth vote to effectively nullify statutory and constitutional protections against mandatory participation in paying for or providing abortions, and the fifth vote to strip away the First Amendment protections that the Court has recognized for independent speech about those who hold or seek political office.
Americans United for Life President Charmaine Yoest told LifeNews, “His loss is tragic, and we hope that when it comes time for the Senate to vote on his replacement, that a worthy successor who can pick up his banner can be found after the election.”
Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel: “With the passing of Justice Scalia, the future of the High Court and the future of America is hanging in the balance. The Senate must not confirm any nominee to the Supreme Court from President Obama. The Senate must hold off any confirmation until the next President is seated. Unfortunately the presidential debates have been more theater and less substance about the real issues surrounding the Supreme Court. The election of the next President has now taken on even greater importance. The future of the Supreme Court and America now depends on the Senate blocking any nominee by President Obama and the people electing the right person to occupy the White House.”
One of the names being bandied about today by experts on the high court is pro-abortion Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
