Elizabeth Warren Joins Groups Demanding GOP Leaders Reverse Supreme Court Blockade

Advocacy groups and Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday urged Republicans in the U.S. Senate to reverse their decision to blockade President Barack Obama’s nomination to the Supreme Court, calling it “an outrageous pledge to desert their constitutional duty.”

#DoYourJob Tweets

“Keeping a vacancy empty on the highest court in the land for nearly two full court terms is unprecedented, extraordinarily reckless, and shows a blatant disrespect of the rule of law, the third branch of government and the American people,” said Stephen Spaulding, senior policy counsel and legal director at the grassroots group Common Cause.

The coalition delivered more than 1.3 million signatures, collected by progressive action groups and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), pressuring Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee to “put country before party” and give fair consideration to the nominee to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia. The groups, which included the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Color of Change, and Demand Progress, as well as Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Al Franken (D-Minn.) called attention to the action on Twitter with the hashtag #DoYourJob.

The action comes in response to all 11 Republicans on the committee deciding in a closed-door meeting to deny hearings or a vote on any nomination to the court in 2016. Scalia’s death has left the nation’s highest court evenly split between liberals and conservatives and prompted a debate over whether Obama should appoint a nominee while still in office or wait for the next administration to make a decision.