https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOrgZCWMrtI
It didn’t take long for Pat Toomey to announce he would oppose President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee.
Just as fast, Katie McGinty is taking to the airwaves with a new TV ad hitting the Senator for obstruction.
The thirty-second spot, titled “Do Your Job”, is taken from McGinty’s statement at last month’s Progressive Summit.
“In Pat Toomey’s obstructionism, what we see is a deliberate effort to try to make the Supreme Court an extension of republican partisan politics – to take away a woman’s right to choose, to take away health care, to take away the right to collectively bargain for a living wage, for decent benefits,” McGinty states. “We cannot let Pat Toomey win, and with your help, I will not let him win.”
McGinty wasn’t the only Senate Democratic candidate to go after Sen. Toomey.
“Five weeks before the President even announced Judge Merrick Garland as his nominee, Pat Toomey announced his refusal to consider any nominee at all, because, in Toomey’s words, a vacancy on the Supreme Court is ‘not that big a deal,’” Sestak said. “Justice for the people is a big deal, and Pennsylvanians deserve a Senator who believes, as our founder William Penn said, that ‘to delay justice is injustice.’”
“With so many pressing issues before the Court like the Voting Rights Act, protecting women’s right to choose, reversing Citizens’ United and affirming the need to regulate polluters, it is time for Pat Toomey to abandon his obstructionist tactics of ‘delay and deny’ and fulfill his duty to the people of Pennsylvania by agreeing to at the very least consider the qualifications of Judge Merrick Garland,” Sestak said.
Finally, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party itself released a statement condemning the GOP Senator.
“Toomey’s view on the Supreme Court vacancy is deeply unpopular in Pennsylvania, and clearly he is seeking a way out,” said Preston Maddock, spokesman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. “Sadly, he has been on record the past month saying the qualifications of the nominee are irrelevant, and he will not even give them the dignity of a meeting. If Merrick Garland’s credentials deserve careful consideration in eight months, why don’t they now?”
Finally, while not a direct response to his colleague, Senator Bob Casey released a detailed statement explaining his support for Merrick Garland’s nomination:
“Chief Judge Merrick Garland is an eminently qualified nominee for the Supreme Court who has established a record of fairness, integrity and legal excellence over many years. I look forward to reviewing Judge Garland’s record and giving his nomination the full consideration it deserves. The President has done his job as is proscribed under the Constitution, and it’s time for Senate Republicans to commit to doing their job by giving this nominee a fair hearing and a timely vote. Several Senate Republicans have engaged in outrageous political games by refusing to commit to giving any nominee under President Obama a hearing or even a meeting in their offices. The Constitution is clear. Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution explicitly requires the President to select a nominee for any vacancy to the Supreme Court, and the Senate to advise and consent on that nominee.
The history is also clear. The Senate has taken action on every Supreme Court nominee in the last 100 years, regardless of whether the nomination was made in a presidential election year, and not since the Civil War has the Senate taken longer than a year to fill a Supreme Court vacancy. In 1987, Justice Kennedy was confirmed in the last year of President Reagan’s final term under a Democratic Senate, and the Senate has confirmed 17 Supreme Court nominees in presidential election years. It’s time for Republicans on the Judiciary Committee to reverse course. In January extreme rightwing groups like Heritage Action issued marching orders to Senate Republicans to shut down any judicial nominations until President Obama left office. Since then, Senate Republicans have marched in lockstep with Heritage Action and extreme voices on the right. The history of independence that the Senate Judiciary Committee has earned will evaporate if Committee Republicans continues down this path. Senators are free to vote however they choose on a Supreme Court nominee, but they must do their job and give that nominee a fair hearing and a timely vote.”
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12 Responses
Senator Pat Toomey. Please do not vote or continue to perform any other senatorial functions for the rest of this year. Since you are up for re-election you must wait; so the people of Pennsylvania can have a voice. If you are re-elected, then feel free to perform any of your duties as our Pennsylvania Senator!
Toomey should DO HIS JOB.
The Constitution only matters to him when it is politically expedient for it to matter, I guess.
Toomey should counter with the video of Senator Biden talking about how President Bush the elder shouldn’t nominate a new Justice in an election year.
One-Term-Toomey
The ad is inaccurate. Too net doesn’t want to block Obama from nominating anyone. He opposes his nominee. The Senate cannot prevent the President from making a nomination. Toomey should file a complaint to force McGinty to redo the ad. Either way, this is hardly the type of ad that is going to motivate voters. People can name more of the Three Stooges than they can Justices of the Supreme Court
I’ve sent letters to Sen Toomey asking him to change his position. His response was “a life time appointment should be decided by the voters in the next election.” No Senator, we made our choice three years ago, you do not get a free year simply because Mitch McConnell thinks you should. If you wanted to have this appointment made by a Republican President, that person should have been elected by the majority of Americans three years ago.
By Toomey’s logic, he and the rest of Congress should just go home now, and wait until the election is over to pass any new legislation, so the voters can decided who should be passing laws. It’s insane, and it is a slippery slope, because next time, when there is a Republican President the Democrats will say, “oh, no lifetime appointments in the last two years of the Presidents term.” We have rules and laws that make our government work, but it only works when everyone follows the rules.
There are very few things the Constitution says a Senator should do. Advise and consent on Supreme Court justices is one of the few. It is ironic that Scalia himself would have been the foremost juror saying “follow the constitution.’ But unfortunately for all Pennsylvanians, Senator Toomey has cast his lot in with the obstructionists who want to shut down our government functions every time they don’t get their way. Do your job Senator, or the people of Pennsylvania who are not far right wing radical obstructionists will vote you rightfully out of office. And I will be there to do whatever I can to help to make this happen. I want my government to function, to work and Senator Toomey is a big problem right now.
Has Fina resigned yet???
David – But how is that going to play in Peoria?
How can he win an election in Philly as a Corbett Republican? And how much does he think the Grand ol party is gonna raise for a Black guy in Philadelphia?
This reeks of a desperation move by a politician who is seriously on the ropes … if not down for the count.
Revolving door Katie is a joke as a candidate-although I would vote for her before Toomey, She has been , is and will continue to be a loser. Obama is the great divider- he and Trump are a lot alike- divide people, think they are Almighty and represent the worst in American politics. Obama is reaping the deep hatred he has sown– to paraphrase Davy Crockett— Remember Judge Bork and the sleazy job Democrats did on him–what goes around comes around—-Go Sestak give us a qualified candidate against Toomey not party hack–Katie the frackers best friend
Pat Unger-
Seth’s always has really been a Republican. He ran as a Dem, but with his stances on death penalty and protecting his staff pornographers, he’s no Dem.
DD – What do you make of Seth Williams’ Republican Harrisburg PAC?
Good ad.
I would change:
“We cannot let Pat Toomey win, and with your help, I will not let him win.”
to
“…. and with your help, I will kick his partisan ass out of the Senate”
But, that’s me. 🙂