Open letter to Senator McCain, Republicans: Approve Garland already

Sen. John McCain,

As you are aware, history has been made this week, and not in a good way. 

{mosads}July 19 marked 125 days since President Obama nominated Chief Judge Merrick Garland to fill the empty seat in the Supreme Court, which is the longest the Senate has ever made a Supreme Court nominee wait for a vote.

This, a result of your party’s record-breaking obstruction that is crippling our Supreme Court and our democracy, with our families and children paying the price on a daily basis. Senate Republicans refusing to do the jobs they were elected to do and leaving the Supreme Court to continue on with eight justices means the Supreme Court is unable to do its job.

A clear example is the Supreme Court’s 4-4 tie on one of the most important immigration issues to reach the court in recent years, denying justice to millions of hard-working families and neighbors in the process, and in turn, leaving a lower court decision in place, which blocks immigration relief to about five million families who now continue to live in constant fear that their families will be separated by deportation. All due to a never-before-seen Republican obstruction.

Senate Republicans like yourself, are shutting down the Supreme Court to further their political goals. Your party wants Donald Trump to appoint justices who will impose his radical and divisive agenda on America, and as our State Senator, we ask you to not let that happen.

Holding a Supreme Court seat for a nominee who wants to overturn Roe, punish women who have abortions, ban Muslims from this country, roll back LGBT rights, and round up and deport 11 million immigrants is simply not an option. Many Senate Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader McConnell, refuse to say whether Donald Trump is qualified to be president, yet you are supporting him, and trusting him to choose the next Supreme Court justice.

What’s more puzzling is that many Senate Republicans, you included, are afraid to be seen with him at the GOP convention this week. We are tired of your party playing politics with the Constitution by refusing to consider the President’s nominee – a consensus nominee with unprecedented bipartisan support and more judicial experience than any nominee in history – to the Supreme Court.

We have seen the damage that a 4-4 decision can have and we are going to do something about it come November. Our votes matter and we will vote for those who can shape the makeup of the Supreme Court and uphold our Constitution. It’s time for you to do your job or lose it in November.

Juarez is the communications director for the One Arizona coalition in Phoenix and Tucson.

The views expressed by Contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.