Subject: FW: It's Official: Senator Grassley Wants to Hand Supreme Court Appointment to...Donald Trump
From: "Walker, Eric" <[email-masked]>
To: Comm_D <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 4 May 2016 13:51:38 -0700

From: August [mailto:[email-masked]] On Behalf Of Jeremy Funk
Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2016 4:07 PM
To: [email-masked]
Subject: FW: It's Official: Senator Grassley Wants to Hand Supreme Court Appointment to...Donald Trump

FYI -- Similar releases were issued to in-state press for Senators Toomey, Portman, Ayotte, Blunt, Burr, Johnson, McCain, McConnell

www.americansunitedforchange.org<http://www.americansunitedforchange.org>
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                            Contact:       Jeremy Funk, 202-470-5878<tel:202-470-5878>
May 4, 2016                                                                          Blake Williams, 202-470-5870<tel:202-470-5870>

It's Official: Senator Grassley Wants to Hand Supreme Court Appointment to...Donald Trump

<https://twitter.com/CFodorKCCI/status/727895764714708992?lang=en>
Washington DC -- With Donald Trump becoming the presumptive Republican presidential nominee<http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-gop-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/05/reince-priebus-donald-trump-is-nominee-222767> Tuesday night after Senator Ted Cruz suspended his campaign, Americans United for Change President Brad Woodhouse issued the following statement on the implications for Senator Chuck Grassley's blockade of the President's Supreme Court nominee Judge Merrick Garland, who brings to the table more federal judicial experience than any other nominee in history:
"It's official. Senator Grassley is refusing to do his job because he wants Donald Trump -- a racist, sexist, misogynistic, nativist, isolationist, pathological liar who said he would date his daughter if they weren't related and won't rule out using nuclear weapons in the Middle East -- to make the next appointment to the Supreme Court. Rooting for a Supreme Court seat to be turned into a reality TV show gameshow prize really reflects poorly on Senator Grassley's own judgement. The longer Senator Grassley puts politics before the Constitution and keeps the Supreme Court a Justice short, the more dysfunction and uncertainty it invites for businesses and citizens across the country. The polling shows overwhelming public consensus from Independent voters in particular that Judge Garland deserves a hearing and up-or-down vote this year.  By hitching his wagons to the dangerous candidacy of Trump on top of taking this hugely unpopular and unconstitutional 'no hearings' stance, Senator Grassley has effectively signed a political suicide pact along with a number of his fellow vulnerable Republican Senate colleagues."
BACKGROUND:

*  KCCI's Cynthia Fodor<https://twitter.com/CFodorKCCI/status/727895764714708992?lang=en>: "Sen. Grassley tells KCCI he will support Trump if he becomes the GOP nominee. @KCCINews<https://twitter.com/KCCINews>"

*  Reuters, 4/12<http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-court-garland-idUSKCN0X91OO>: 'Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Grassley tells Garland no hearings'

*  A 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."  USA Today recognized<http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/03/31/supreme-court-scalia-eight-justices-tie-votes/82435866/> signs of dysfunction 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."

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