March, 16 2016, 11:15am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Email: media@reproductivefreedomforall.org
Statement by NARAL on Nomination of Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court
As President Obama today fulfilled his constitutional duty to act on filling the vacancy on the Supreme Court, NARAL Pro-Choice America called on Senate Republicans to do their job and hold a hearing on the nomination of Judge Merrick Garland. As chief judge on the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals and a former principal associate deputy US attorney general, Garland is an accomplished jurist who has had an impressive legal career.
WASHINGTON
As President Obama today fulfilled his constitutional duty to act on filling the vacancy on the Supreme Court, NARAL Pro-Choice America called on Senate Republicans to do their job and hold a hearing on the nomination of Judge Merrick Garland. As chief judge on the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals and a former principal associate deputy US attorney general, Garland is an accomplished jurist who has had an impressive legal career. Despite Judge Garland's qualifications, Senate Republican leaders have stated their refusal to hold a hearing on any nominee to fill the vacancy on the high court--a commitment made even before the identity of President Obama's nominee was known.
In light of Senate Republicans' continued refusal to do their jobs and consider the nomination of Judge Garland, NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue issued the following statement:
"By objective standards, there are few more qualified candidates for the highest court in the land than Judge Merrick Garland, yet the Republican Senate is refusing to do its job and move his nomination forward in a timely manner. They are intentionally leaving a vacuum in one of the most hallowed and significant institutions in our country and denying the American people a complete and full vetting of a new Supreme Court justice.
"This year, monumental cases will be decided by the Court on abortion access specifically and reproductive rights generally. Judge Garland does not have a public record on reproductive rights and Senate Republicans' obstruction denies all of us our right to know where this nominee stands on core constitutional questions of women's privacy, dignity, and equality. With seven in ten Americans supporting legal access to abortion, we have a right to know where our justices stand on this important issue. It's time for Republicans to stop putting their party's interests ahead of our nation's.
"We look forward to learning more about Judge Garland's views on the constitutional right to abortion and reproductive freedom as this process continues. President Obama fulfilled his constitutional duty today to help fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court, now Senator McConnell and the Senate Republicans must fulfill theirs."
For over 50 years, Reproductive Freedom for All (formerly NARAL Pro-Choice America) has fought to protect and advance reproductive freedom at the federal and state levels—including access to abortion care, birth control, pregnancy and post-partum care, and paid family leave—for everybody. Reproductive Freedom for All is powered by its more than 4 million members from every state and congressional district in the country, representing the 8 in 10 Americans who support legal abortion.
202.973.3000LATEST NEWS
'Grotesque Spectacle' on May Day: CEO Pay Up 50% Since 2019 Compared to 0.9% for Workers
"This isn't a glitch in the system—it's the system working exactly as designed, funneling wealth ever upwards while millions of working people struggle to afford rent, food, and healthcare."
May 01, 2025
As people worldwide filled the streets Thursday to celebrate International Workers' Day and mobilize against attacks on the working class, a new analysis showed that average global CEO pay has surged 50% since 2019—56 times more than the pay of ordinary employees.
The Oxfam International analysis examined figures from nearly 2,000 corporations across 35 countries where CEOs were paid more than $1 million on average last year, including bonuses and stock options. Across those companies, the average pay of chief executives reached $4.3 million in 2024, up from $2.9 million just five years ago.
By contrast, average worker pay in those 35 nations rose just 0.9% between 2019 and 2024.
"Year after year, we see the same grotesque spectacle: CEO pay explodes while workers' wages barely budge," said Amitabh Behar, Oxfam's executive director. "This isn't a glitch in the system—it's the system working exactly as designed, funneling wealth ever upwards while millions of working people struggle to afford rent, food, and healthcare."
According to Oxfam, global billionaires "pocketed on average $206 billion in new wealth over the last year," or $23,500 an hour. That's more than the average annual income globally—$21,000—in 2023.
To begin redressing global economic inequality, Oxfam called for top marginal tax rates of at least 75% on the highest earners and wage increases to ensure worker pay keeps up with inflation.
"It's time to end the billionaire coup against democracy and put people and planet first."
Luc Triangle, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, said in a statement that the "outrageous pay inequality between CEOs and workers confirms that we lack democracy where it is needed most: at work."
"Around the world, workers are being denied the basics of life while corporations pocket record profits, dodge taxes, and lobby to evade responsibility," Triangle added. "Workers are demanding a New Social Contract that works for them—not the billionaires undermining democracy. Fair taxation, strong public services, living wages, and a just transition are not radical demands—they are the foundation of a just society."
"It's time to end the billionaire coup against democracy and put people and planet first," he added.
In addition to spotlighting the growing chasm between CEO and worker pay, the Oxfam analysis warned that the global working class "is now facing a new threat" in the form of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff regime. The humanitarian group argued that "these policies pose significant risks for workers worldwide, including job losses and rising costs for basic goods that would stoke extreme inequality everywhere."
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Nearly every Senate Republican on Wednesday voted against a resolution aimed at terminating the national emergency that U.S. President Donald Trumpdeclared last month to impose his sweeping tariffs, which are wreaking economic havoc across the globe.
Just three Republicans—Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Rand Paul (R-Ky.)—joined every voting Democrat in supporting the resolution led by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). The measure deadlocked at 49 in favor and 49 against, and U.S. Vice President JD Vance subsequently cast a tie-breaking vote to table the resolution—which Trump had threatened to veto.
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Wyden said in a floor speech Wednesday that Trump's "senseless global tariffs" are "a major culprit" in the first U.S. economic contraction since 2022, as shown in a Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) report published earlier in the day.
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Trump's tariffs currently stand at 10% on imports from most U.S. trading partners, and 145% on Chinese imports, as the White House negotiates bilateral deals behind closed doors.
Melinda St. Louis, Global Trade Watch director at Public Citizen, said Wednesday that "while strategic tariffs can be an important tool to support domestic manufacturing, Trump's inappropriate use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to push through sweeping and reckless tariffs actually has nothing to do with protecting U.S. workers."
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Doctors Against Genocide Hold DC Rally for 'Bread Not Bombs' in Gaza
"Hope is running out to save tens of thousands of children," warned one Colorado pediatrician. "When children die of starvation, they don't even cry. Their little hearts just slow down until they stop."
Apr 30, 2025
Members of the international advocacy group Doctors Against Genocide rallied outside U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to demand that lawmakers push for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and an end to Israel's use of starvation as a weapon of war in the besieged Palestinian enclave.
Around 20 DAG members in white lab coats held up pieces of pita and chanted, "Bread not bombs, let the children eat" during the Capitol Hill rally.
"The Israeli government's deliberate malnutrition, starvation, and attack on healthcare in Gaza has worsened and potentially portends extermination of masses of the Gaza population, particularly tens of thousands of children," said Dr. Karameh Kuemmerle, a Boston-based pediatric neurologist.
🪧 'Let the children eat!'
Doctors Against Genocide visited the US Capitol Hill to advocate for immediate action to end the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip https://t.co/aUJ9X6s4sh pic.twitter.com/RVpm2TX2Co
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) April 30, 2025
Last week, the United Nations World Food Program distributed the last of its remaining food aid in Gaza, where embattled residents now have no outside food source amid the Israeli blockade. DAG said Wednesday that "gastroenteritis and diarrheal diseases now run rampant due to Gazans attempting to survive on spoiled food, while others starve to death."
Palestinian officials, U.N. experts, and international human rights groups accuse Israel of perpetrating genocidal weaponized starvation in Gaza by imposing a "complete siege" that has fueled deadly malnutrition and disease among the coastal enclave's more than 2 million people, especially its children.
"When I treated Gaza children two months ago, children were already starving," Colorado pediatrician and DAG member Dr. Mohamed Kuziez said ahead of Wednesday's rally. "After 60 days of total blockade from essential nutrition and medical aid, uncounted more are dying slow, unnecessary deaths."
U.N. officials say there are nearly 3,000 truckloads of lifesaving aid, including more than 116,000 metric tons of food—enough to feed a million people for as long as four months—sitting at the Gaza border awaiting Israeli permission to enter.
"Hope is running out to save tens of thousands of children," Kuziez warned. "When children die of starvation, they don't even cry. Their little hearts just slow down until they stop."
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Wednesday's rally came as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) held a third day of hearings on Israel's legal obligation to "ensure and facilitate the unhindered provision of urgently needed supplies essential to the survival of the Palestinian civilian population."
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