Subject: Politico: 'White House allies make new push for Garland'
From: Jeremy Funk <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2016 13:20:55 -0400

KEY POINT: "The theory here is that the only way we break the Republicans to allow a hearing and to allow an up or down is to convince them their political lives are in jeopardy," said Brad Woodhouse, president of Americans United for Change. "We're going to beat them down politically until they fold, but if they stick to this suicide pact then we're going to prosecute a political case that really makes them vulnerable in the election."

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/white-house-makes-new-push-for-garland-222612#ixzz47ETZ9nDR

White House allies make new push for Garland

Groups to blitz nine states with ads, events to pressure GOP to allow a vote on Supreme Court nominee.

By Edward-Isaac Dovere<http://www.politico.com/staff/edward-isaac-dovere>

04/29/16 05:16 AM EDT

White House aides have been eagerly scheduling meetings for Merrick Garland with senators, hoping they can soon reach the point when a majority of the chamber has met with him and they can shift to focusing exclusively on calling for a hearing. | Getty

With time ticking on what White House aides see as their last, slim chance to get Merrick Garland confirmed before the November election - the unlikely scenario he'll get a hearing and a vote before the Senate breaks for the summer - allies will launch new operations and ads starting Saturday to pressure GOP senators during next week's recess.

To date, the outside allies have focused on the states with the five most vulnerable GOP incumbents (New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois) and Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley's Iowa. Now they'll be expanding the map to cover three more incumbents up for reelection: Arizona's John McCain, North Carolina's Richard Burr and Missouri's Roy Blunt.

They're calling it the 9-9-9 campaign: nine states, over nine days, to push for a court with nine justices. (No apologies to Herman Cain, who coined the term for his 2012 tax plan.)

More and more, though, they're going to be talking about Donald Trump, tying in Republicans' discomfort with the largely unpopular likely Republican nominee to say that refusing President Barack Obama's nominee amounts to enabling a would-be President Trump's.

The plans represent an unspoken acknowledgment that the Supreme Court fight is less about actually trying to get Garland on the bench before November, and more about turning the Republican resistance into a campaign issue to maximize GOP losses in the Senate, and even in the House. The recess efforts are both a shot across the bow from Democrats, and a test run for some of what they'll be ramping up through the fall.

Americans United for Change will be heading up the effort to track Republican senators down at town halls and campaign events, often with a collection of mobile billboards in tow, which they'll also be driving around the neighborhoods where the senators live and have their district offices. They'll be holding press events, some with workers like nurses and janitors saying they'd be fired if they showed up to work and did their jobs, some with business leaders and law school deans calling attention to the effects of the continued vacancy on the Court and the prospect of more 4-4 decisions, according to the group.

Other allied groups - including the Service Employees International Union, Planned Parenthood and Voto Latino - will also be organizing set events, which will include a town hall in Iowa to turn up the heat on Grassley. In Ohio, where they're hoping to create a problem for GOP Sen. Rob Portman, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown will be leading a roundtable with mothers on the court issue, and Rep. Tim Ryan will be doing a separate press event.

All these efforts are being done in close coordination with the White House, with at least one meeting per week held at the Precision Strategies office of Stephanie Cutter, who is leading the strategic planning. Several White House aides and leaders of the top ally groups attend.

"The theory here is that the only way we break the Republicans to allow a hearing [and] to allow an up or down is to convince them their political lives are in jeopardy," said Brad Woodhouse, president of Americans United for Change. "We're going to beat them down politically until they fold, but if they stick to this suicide pact then we're going to prosecute a political case that really makes them vulnerable in the election."

The efforts don't have a clear dollar amount behind them.

After the last recess at the end of March, Senate Republicans and their own allies gleefully pointed out that the millions of dollars spent didn't lead to a single Republican coming out in favor of Garland. In fact, the fierce response Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran received for simply saying he was worried about the message sent by not giving Garland a vote led him to quickly recant, leaving just Illinois' Mark Kirk and Maine's Susan Collins as Republican senators in favor of moving forward with the nomination.

The White House has tried to stick to several low-key strategies for promoting Garland: a web video, last week's brief surprise speech by the nominee at an event for judges in Washington, and careful deployments of President Barack Obama himself. On Thursday, Obama took advantage of dropping by a briefing that his press secretary was doing with college reporters to tell them that if they are going to cover national affairs, they should know "our system only works when, even when we have big disagreements, even when there are big policy disputes, there is still a willingness to follow the rules and treat people fairly, especially those who are on the other side of the debate."

Polling on the vacancy has continued to encourage the White House and its allies, and Friday the Constitutional Responsibility Project and the League of Conservation Voters released the latest from Hart Research, showing that 56 percent of Pennsylvanians support Garland getting a hearing, with 37 percent opposed. The numbers are slightly better for Garland among independents. The poll shows that few people know incumbent Sen. Pat Toomey's position (he's opposed), but in an accompanying memo, pollster Geoff Garin argues that among independents, "Toomey risks turning as much as 16% of the electorate against him by joining in the Republican obstruction of Judge Garland - a decisive pool of voters in what is likely to be a closely contested election."

"Polls show a growing potential for backlash should these senators continue to shirk their constitutional responsibilities. The more independent voters learn about these senators' unprecedented obstruction, the more support they will lose," said Amy Brundage, a former deputy White House communications director who's now a spokesperson for the group they call the Constitutional Responsibility Project.

America Rising, one of Republicans' leading outside allies on the Court fight, says there are plans to get conservatives out during the recess, including with earned media efforts around Law Day on May 1.

"The White House's multi-million dollar campaign to press GOP Senators on the Supreme Court has been an unmitigated failure," said Jeremy Adler, communications director for America Rising Squared, arguing that they've only strengthened Senate Republicans' resolve. "We hope they keep it up!"

Carrie Severino, the Judicial Crisis Network chief counsel, also declined to get into details, but promised there would be activity.

"We plan to go in the offense, holding Red-State Democrats accountable for their support of Judge Garland's nomination," she said in a statement. "Several Democrat senators are already squeamish about backing Obama's judge who would gut the right to bear arms and green-light government bureaucrats in the EPA to destroy the local economy. We hope they will choose to stand with their constituents' interests rather than carrying water for Obama."

White House aides have been eagerly scheduling meetings for Garland with senators, hoping they can soon reach the point when a majority of the chamber has met with him and they can shift to focusing exclusively on calling for a hearing. So far, 32 Democrats and 14 Republicans have met with him, and four other Republicans have publicly committed to. (That also leaves 14 more Democrats whom the White House can shuttle him around to for the sake of keeping up media attention.)

Garland is not prepping for a hearing per se, though he does continue to meet with White House staff ahead of his meetings with senators, which often cover much of the same substance.

The White House will also soon send its completed formal nominee questionnaire to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Woodhouse says the more attention the pro-Garland forces can get for their message, the more hopeful they are that they'll get Republicans to relent - or at least to lose.

"We're going to lay the wood to these people on this issue," Woodhouse said, "because the polling says it works."

From: Jeremy Funk
Sent: Friday, April 29, 2016 11:38 AM
To: [email-masked]' <[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>>
Subject: Announcing the '9-9-9 Tour' : 9 States in 9 Days for 9 Supreme Court Justices

Link: http://www.americansunitedforchange.org/page/-/9-9-9%20Tour%20Launched.pdf

www.americansunitedforchange.org<http://www.americansunitedforchange.org>
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                            Contact: Jeremy Funk, 202-470-5878
April 29, 2016                                                                         Blake Williams, 202-470-5870
9 Days, 9 States for 9 Justices

'9-9-9' Mobile Billboard Tour Hits the Road to Make Swing-State Republicans the Poster Children of Supreme Court Obstructionism

Local Leaders to Hold 'Do Your Job, Fill the Vacant Seat' Billboard Events in AZ, IA, OH, NH, MO, NC, PA, IL, WI

<http://www.americansunitedforchange.org/page/content/999Tour/>

Washington DC - Despite the overwhelming public consensus<http://www.americansunitedforchange.org/blog/entries/polling_roundup_panicking_time_for_scotus_obstructionists/>, including from over 500 editorial boards<http://www.judgingtheenvironment.org/press/pr/MERRICK-GARLAND-MORE-THAN-500-EDITORIALS-BY-EDITORIAL-BOARDS-IN-49-STATES-DC-URGE-SENATE-HEARING.html> in 49 states, that U.S. Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland deserves a fair hearing and an up-or-down vote this year, Senate Republicans still haven't gotten the message. That's why Americans United for Change is hitting the road with a nine-state, nine-day mobile billboard tour featuring local leaders to underscore the urgent need for nine Justices. The message to swing-state Republicans is simple: Do Your Job and Fill the Vacant Seat on the Supreme Court, or Someone Else Will Fill Yours.

*See tour dates and locations BELOW; see digital billboard graphic designs HERE<http://www.americansunitedforchange.org/page/content/999Tour/>.
These nine states represent an expansion from the six states (PA, IL, WI, OH, IA, NH) AUFC has had an active presence in as part of the Constitutional Responsibility Project<http://www.weneednine.org> pressuring Senators to do their constitutional duty. The 9-9-9 Tour represents just a part of a massive wave of activity CRP has planned over the congressional recess and in the coming months. After recent polls in New Hampshire<http://www.wmur.com/politics/-wmur-poll-in-senate-race-its-ayotte-43-percent-hassan-42-percent-a-virtual-tossup/39125918>, Ohio<http://weneednine.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Ohio-Poll-Key-Findings-4.15.16-2.pdf>, Wisconsin<http://talkingpointsmemo.com/polltracker/poll-shows-johnson-in-danger-in-wisconsin?utm_content=bufferce264&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer> and elsewhere clearly shows that this issue is taking a toll on the political prospects of Republican senators, the CRP has expanded its 'in play' map to AZ, MO and NC. If Senators Burr, McCain and Blunt thought they were going to get a pass they were wrong. At the rate this is going if Republicans continue this blockade they may as well hand over their gavels now.

April 27th marked 42 days since the President nominated Judge Garland to fill the seat left behind by the death of Justice Scalia. 42 days is the average time<https://public.tableau.com/shared/6JZTHNXKS?:display_count=no&:showVizHome=no> Supreme Court nominees have been welcomed inside the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room to answers questions about their record. If history was followed, Garland would have faced the committee this week. But Senate Republicans today don't care about precedent, the will of the people, or even the Constitution when it becomes inconvenient. Instead, Republicans led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley have made the unprecedented, rankly partisan choice to refuse a hearing to a nominee with more federal judicial experience than any other Supreme Court nominee in history. Awkwardly, many of the same Republicans previously lauded<http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2016/03/16/3760775/republicans-backed-merrick-garland-1997/> Garland as imminently qualified to serve on the nation's second most powerful court.

Brad Woodhouse, President, Americans United for Change: "Tellingly, the Republicans who've actually bothered to meet with Judge Garland still can't muster one good reason why he doesn't deserve a fair hearing or to otherwise disqualify him from consideration. Republicans would have us believe the Constitution makes exceptions against filling Supreme Court vacancies during an election year. And yet somehow, President Reagan still managed to see his nominee Anthony Kennedy through to the bench in 1988. While Republicans perform mental gymnastics claiming the last election didn't matter, the fact is<https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/02/29/one-third-of-all-u-s-presidents-appointed-a-supreme-court-justice-in-an-election-year/> a third of all U.S. presidents appointed a Supreme Court justice during an election year. When you look at the wealth of polling showing Independent voters are especially unimpressed with their plan to sabotage the nomination process, it's quickly becoming a question not whether Republicans will lose their Senate Majority, but by how wide a margin. The question for Mitch McConnell and company: is it worth giving up the majority in the slim chance Donald Trump will ever be able to smooth things over with the millions of women and minority voters he's alienated that are needed to win the Presidency? While it's a clearly a reckless political gamble for Republicans, unfortunately, the American people have a lot more to lose. The longer the Supreme Court is left a Justice short, the more dysfunction and uncertainty it invites for businesses and citizens across the country."

Long-Term Supreme Court Vacancy Leads to Federal Judicial Dysfunction, Uncertainty for Millions:  Over 350 law professors<http://www.afj.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Law-professor-SCOTUS-vacancy-letter.pdf> warned in a letter to Congressional leaders: 'A long-term vacancy jeopardizes the Supreme Court's ability to resolve disputed questions of federal law, causing uncertainty and hampering the administration of justice across the country.'  Put another way<https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/civil-liberties/report/2016/03/14/133139/justice-waits-for-a-nine-member-supreme-court/>: "Any 4-4 tied votes from the Court would result in a default upholding of decisions by regional circuit courts or state supreme courts. Some circuit courts could make federal law for the entire nation. In other areas of the law, Americans could have different constitutional rights in different parts of the country. The U.S. Supreme Court could hold some of these cases over until its next term-which starts in October-leaving millions of Americans waiting for justice."  The USA Today recognized<http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/03/31/supreme-court-scalia-eight-justices-tie-votes/82435866/> signs of uncertainty are already apparent: "Cases large and small are ending in tie votes. The pace of decisions has slowed slightly, and fewer new cases are being granted."

"Simply put: America needs nine Justices, not eight," added Woodhouse. "Hardworking families that pay Senators' salaries don't get to pick and choose which parts of their jobs they want to do and forget the rest. If a nurse refused to deal with patients with a cold or flu, or a janitor refused to clean bathrooms, or a cashier only rang up every other item, they would all be fired on the spot. Yet, Republicans are under the impression they don't have do one of the most fundamental parts of their jobs outlined in the constitution. It says "advice and consent", not delay and dodge. That's what the 9-9-9 tour is all about: reminding Republicans they will be held to account for not doing their job, just as anyone else would be. Even if a Senator agrees to meet with Judge Garland, it is nothing but an empty gesture unless followed with an announcement of full support for hearings to go forward and then a timely vote. If that doesn't work, they should threaten to vote against Mitch McConnell to carry on as Republican Leader. Anything short of that is unacceptable and a costly waste of time."
9-9-9 Billboard Tour Schedule
Day

Billboard 1 (IA/WI/IL)

Billboard 2 (MO/IL/OH/PA)

Billboard 3 (PA/NH)

Billboard 4 (AZ)

Billboard 5 (NC)

Saturday, April 30

Creston, IA

Sunday, May 1

Sioux City, IA

Monday, May 2

Davenport, IA

Springfield, IL

Philadelphia & Harrisburg, PA

Tuesday, May 3

Waterloo, IA

TBD MO

Allentown, PA

Wednesday, May 4

Des Moines, IA

TBD MO

Portsmouth, NH

Charlotte & Asheville, NC

Thursday, May 5

Bedford, IA

Cincinnati, OH

Manchester, NH

Phoenix, AZ

Greensboro, NC

Friday, May 6

Milwaukee & Madison, WI

Columbus, OH

Nashua, NH

Tucson, AZ

Raleigh, NC

Saturday, May 7

Green Bay, WI

Pittsburgh, PA

Concord, NH

Greenville, NC

Sunday, May 8

Manchester, NH

Chairman Chuck Grassley's Senate Judiciary Committee Room Still Sits Empty After 44 Days

###

______________________________________________________
Jeremy J. Funk
Communications Director, Americans United for Change
Office: 202.470.5878
Cell: 605.366.3654
[email-masked]<mailto:[email-masked]>
www.AmericansUnitedforChange.org<http://www.AmericansUnitedforChange.org>
Twitter: @jeremyjfunk<https://twitter.com/JeremyJFunk>