Second Generation to Sen. Toomey: Uphold Your Own Precedent, Our Ongoing Democratic Process Should Determine the New Supreme Court Justice

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Executive Director Ryan Alsayegh (ryan@secgenpac.org)
 
(Philadelphia, PA) — Today, Second Generation calls on U.S. Senator Pat Toomey to follow the precedent he set in 2016 and refuse to vote on the confirmation of a new Justice to the Supreme Court until the next presidential term begins.

In 2016, Sen. Toomey refused to vote on a Supreme Court nominee following the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia eleven months before the upcoming election. Sen. Toomey made his stance very clear in a statement on Feb. 5, 2016:

“Given that we are already well into the presidential election process, and that the Supreme Court appointment is for a lifetime, it makes sense to give the American people a more direct say in this critical decision. The next court appointment should be made by the newly elected president. If that new president is not a member of my party, I will take the same objective nonpartisan approach to that nominee as I have always done.”

Now with his own party’s nomination on the line, Sen. Toomey has reversed from his stance from four years ago. On Sept. 22, 2020—just six weeks before an election in which over 1 million early votes have already been cast—Sen. Toomey announced his intent to vote on the confirmation of a new Justice to the Supreme Court before the upcoming election concludes.

If Sen. Toomey truly believes the American people should have a “direct say in this critical decision”, he should let our ongoing democratic process determine the nomination. His decision to rush a Senate confirmation vote before the conclusion of this ongoing election not only breaks with his own precedent, it goes against the will of the American people. A majority (59%) of the public believes the winner of the upcoming presidential election should choose the person to fill Justice Ginsburg’s seat.

Sen. Toomey’s decision is an anti-democratic act that deprives the American people of their right to shape the future of our country. Should the confirmation proceed before the election, it will be at the behest of a Senate Republican majority representing 15 million fewer people than the Democratic minority, and it would ensure that one-third of the Supreme Court will have been nominated by a president who lost the popular vote by a historic margin of nearly 3 million votes.

We call on Sen. Toomey to uphold his own precedent and refuse to vote for a nominee to the Supreme Court until the next presidential term begins.

Second Generation is a nonconnected federal political action committee whose mission is to promote the political engagement of immigrant communities that have not been fully included in the political process where they live.

Second Generation mourns the tragic loss of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. May her memory be a blessing.