Subject: FW: Today from the Constitutional Responsibility Project
From: "Miranda, Luis" <[email-masked]>
To: Comm_D <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 10 May 2016 14:54:38 -0700

From: Natalie Raps [mailto:[email-masked]]
Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2016 5:54 PM
To: Natalie Raps
Subject: Today from the Constitutional Responsibility Project

Today in the fight for a full and functioning Supreme Court: Chief Judge Garland submits a comprehensive questionnaire to the Senate Judiciary Committee detailing his decades of qualified experience on and off the bench, former campaign volunteers and supporters of Senator Chuck Grassley visit DC to tell him he has lost their vote over his vacancy obstruction while editorial boards continue to urge Senate Republicans to do their jobs and move forward with Chief Judge Garland's nomination.

Chief Judge Garland submits questionnaire to the Senate Judiciary Committee, showcasing his distinguished credentials for the Supreme Court vacancy.
Consistent with the practices of previous Supreme Court nominees, Chief Judge Merrick Garland has submitted a comprehensive questionnaire outlining his career, including his service as the lead prosecutor of the Oklahoma City bombing case and his nearly twenty years on the federal bench, to the Senate Judiciary Committee. You can read the entire questionnaire HERE<https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Senate%20Judiciary%20Committee%20Questionnaire%205%209%202016.pdf>.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee: "[Garland] has done his part, and now it is time for the Senate Judiciary Committee to do its job by promptly reviewing the nominee's record and scheduling a public confirmation hearing. I and my staff have begun reviewing Chief Judge Garland's materials, and I expect Committee Republicans to do the same."[Washington Post, 5/10/16<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/05/10/the-latest-push-to-confirm-merrick-garland-a-141-page-questionnaire/>]

Iowa voters travel to Washington to tell Sen. Grassley that he has lost their vote over Supreme Court obstruction.
Today, MoveOn.org Political Action, Americans United for Change, We Need Nine, and the Constitutional Responsibility Project brought former supporters of Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to meet with the Senator to urge him to do his job and give Chief Judge Garland a hearing and an up-or-down vote. Tomorrow, these Iowa voters will hold a press conference at 11a.m. with Senator Harry Reid on the steps of the Supreme Court to call on Senator Grassley to take action on Chief Judge Garland's nomination.

Dianne Kamp is part of the delegation of former Sen. Grassley supporters in town and shares her story HERE<https://youtu.be/dnypzjcQfkw>.
Dianne R. Kamp, retired from Rockwell Collins after a 31-year career, from Marion, Iowa. Kamp said: "Senator Grassley, whom I've supported, is not listening to the voters who put him in office. President Obama was elected our president, so he has every right to select someone as a Supreme Court nominee. For Sen. Grassley to refuse to cooperate is appalling to me."
Senate GOP obstruction of Chief Judge Garland's nomination is a "disrespectful dereliction of duty."
The editorial board of the Montgomery Advertiser<http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/opinion/editorials/2016/05/08/gop-senators-refuse-do-their-jobs/83966310/> urges Alabama voters to demand that Sens. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and Richard Shelby (R-AL) do their job and push for timely Senate action on Chief Judge Garland's nomination.

"Republican senators, including Alabama's Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions, immediately began playing politics with the judicial process, saying they wouldn't consider any nominee to the high court until a new president takes office in January... The American people have already spoken loudly, twice, in electing a Democrat to the White House with a majority of the popular vote...obstructionists in the Senate should stop their disrespectful dereliction of duty. Alabama voters should demand Sessions and Shelby push for timely action on Garland's Supreme Court nomination."

Senate GOP's refusal to fill federal judicial vacancies undermines the public's trust.
Senate Republicans' refusal to confirm qualified, noncontroversial nominees to fill vacancies in the federal trial courts is an affront to justice, a former U.S. federal district judge writes in the New York Times<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/07/opinion/americas-trial-court-judges-our-front-line-for-justice.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-right-region&region=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region&_r=1>.

Shira A. Scheundlin, former U.S. district judge for the Southern District of New York: "Even as the spotlight shines on the high court, the Senate has refused to confirm dozens of uncontroversial nominees to fill vacancies in the federal trial courts...the Senate majority's policy of delaying qualified district-court nominations on purely political grounds undermines public trust in the impartiality and legitimacy of the judiciary. This is especially worrisome because the public's understanding of how justice is administered is most likely based on its access to and experience with lower court proceedings."

A look ahead at upcoming Senate courtesy meetings with Chief Judge Merrick Garland:

WEDNESDAY 05/11/16

>  Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)

>  Senator Ed Markey (D-MA)

>  Senator Tom Carper (D-DE)

THURSDAY 05/12/16

>  Senator Jon Tester (D-MT)

A look ahead at a sampling of activity by our grassroots allies:

WEDNESDAY 05/11/16

Event: Reid, Iowans To Call On Grassley To Do His Job With Judicial Nominees
Time: Wednesday, May 11 at 11 a.m. ET
Location: United States Supreme Court
Press Contact: Kristen Orthman, (202) 224-2939

For reporters interested in speaking with Iowa voters while they are in Washington DC this week, please contact Brett Abrams at 516-841-1105<tel:516-841-1105> or by email at [email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>.

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