Civil Rights Leaders Urge Georgia Senators to Do Their Job on Supreme Court Nominee

ATLANTA – Today, Georgia civil rights leaders conducted a press call to urge their senators, David Perdue and Johnny Isakson, to give a fair hearing and a timely vote for the forthcoming nomination to the Supreme Court.  

Both senators have fallen in line with the obstructionist rhetoric of GOP leaders like Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

The speakers, who represent diverse communities in Georgia, reminded their senators of their constitutional duty to do their jobs and honor the confirmation process when the President chooses a nominee.

·         Click here to listen to an MP3 of the call.

Quotes from the call’s participants are below.

Helen Butler, Executive Director of the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples’ Agenda  

“Our issues deserve to have a fully functioning court… Instead of tearing up inconvenient pages of the Constitution we want Senators Isakson and Perdue to protect it… If the President puts forth a qualified nominee we want the Senate to do their job and give them a fair shake.”

Francys Johnson, State President of the Georgia NAACP

“The NAACP believes that the President has a constitutional mandate to nominate and the Senate has a constitutional mandate to hold hearings on that nomination…But for the politics and but for the bigotry that has been aimed at this President, to try to delegitimize this President, we would not be having this conversation…The NAACP is keenly aware that upon Thurgood Marshall’s retirement, the President of the United States had no problem nominating Clarence Thomas. We believe that the President should nominate someone and that the Senate should uphold the constitution that it claims to hold so dear.”

Jerry Gonzalez, Executive Director of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO)

“The senators consider themselves constitutionalists, and the Constitution is pretty clear on what the job of the President is and what the job of Senate is.  The American people have already spoken. They reelected the President in 2012…[the Senate] should respect the American people in that regard; they should not be obstructionist.”

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