Subject: Media Release: Legal Experts and Others Urge Portman to Fairly Consider A Nominee
From: Catherine Turcer <[email-masked]>
To: john podesta <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2016 16:27:47 +0000

Legal Experts and Good Government Groups Urge Sen. Rob Portman
            To Fairly Consider a Successor to Justice Antonin Scalia

   For Immediate Release:
   March 3, 2016

   COLUMBUS--Legal scholars joined with good government groups today to urge
   U.S. Senator Rob Portman to break with Republicans in the U.S. Senate and
   demand fair consideration of President Barack Obama's upcoming nominee to
   the U.S. Supreme Court.

   "Americans want government that works. We don't want a judicial system
   that is left in political limbo," Common Cause Ohio Policy Analyst
   Catherine Turcer told a news conference held outside of Portman's office.
   "The drama of elections shouldn't get in the way of doing the people's
   work.''

   Former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Andy Douglas, a Republican, is in
   agreement.

   "As I read the U. S. Constitution, it is not only the prerogative of the
   President to nominate someone to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court,
   it is also the President's duty,'' Justice Douglas said in a statement
   read at the event. "I am disappointed in, and discouraged by, those who
   have predetermined that any nominee will not be given a fair hearing or
   any hearing at all. American citizens deserve better than this."

   Some Republican leaders have insisted that President Obama should not
   nominate anyone to fill the vacancy left by Justice Antonin Scalia's death
   and leave the job of filling the vacancy to his successor.

   Daniel T. Kobil, a professor of Constitutional Law at Capital University
   Law School, said the President's duty to nominate justices "is one of the
   few obligations expressly imposed on the President under the Constitution.
   Those who contend that President Obama should not nominate a judge to fill
   the Supreme Court's vacancy `during an election year' are flouting our
   constitutional system."

   Fourteen presidents have appointed 21 justices during presidential
   election years, and six of those were truly "lame ducks," who filled
   Supreme Court seats even though their successors had been elected, Kobil
   said. "Over the past 207 years, presidents have nominated 160 justices for
   the Supreme Court and only 12 have been rejected by the Senate.  This
   practice is consistent with the Founders' view that the Senate's `advice
   and consent' role is designed to prompt the President to nominate
   qualified individuals.''

   Attorney and former Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy, a Democrat, urged
   Republicans to put country ahead of party and give the nominee a fair
   hearing.

   "President Obama has nearly a year left in his term, and keeping a vacancy
   on the highest court in the land for nearly two full court terms is
   reckless,'' Kilroy said. "The U.S. Supreme Court hears major cases of
   great public interest and must be fully constituted to be able to properly
   do its job.''

   Deidra Reese, Executive Director of Ohio Voice said, "Senator Portman
   swore an oath to uphold the Constitution not his person views or political
   interpretations. President Obama did not get elected to 3/5 of a term. He
   should not be treated as such because of politics."

   Justice Scalia's unexpected death on February 13 leaves the nation's
   highest court with a possible 4 to 4 split and is likely to produce
   deadlocks until his seat is filled.

   For More Information, Contact:
   Common Cause Policy Analyst Catherine Turcer
   [1]614-579-5509

References

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