Progressive Organizations Launch Emergency Coalition to Block Trump's Supreme Court Nomination

A group of progressive organizations has announced an emergency coalition seeking to block Senate action on President Trump's nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, following the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The coalition, founded by Be A Hero Fund, Demand Progress, Equal Justice Society, Free Speech For People, and Women's March, argues that any Trump nomination to the Supreme Court this year would be illegitimate and calls on senators opposed to this nomination to use all procedural powers to block it.

In 2016, following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans blocked President Barack Obama's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, arguing that the next elected president should decide Scalia's replacement with eight months until the general election. Trump announced his nomination of Barrett just weeks before the November presidential election, and despite his own precedent, McConnell has called for a rapid confirmation process.

"It's not enough to vote 'no.' Senators need to put up a blockade," the coalition's statement reads. "Even the Senate 'minority' (which now represents millions more Americans than the Senate 'majority') has procedures available to delay and block the confirmation vote...[C]onfirming Judge Barrett now, with the election just weeks away, is an illegitimate power grab and an attack on our democracy."

The statement also addresses new developments with a number of Republican Senators recently exposed to the coronavirus: "The current health crisis and potential attendant disruption of Senate business underscore that any given increment of procedural delay could prove to be dispositive."

A recent poll showed that sixty-two percent of American adults want the winner of the next election to pick Justice Ginsburg's replacement.

Read the full statement here.