This past Wednesday at a White House Briefing, President Trump declined to commit to a peaceful transition of power after the election. When asked this question, he simply diverted the conversation to speaking about the issues regarding election infrastructure. Amidst the current tensions about the upcoming elections, Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing brought upon another question for Americans: Should President Trump be given the ability to appoint the new Supreme Court Justice?
Currently, Republicans control the Senate and the White House. They aim to replace Justice Ginsburg, who was a very progressive liberal Justice, with someone who has conservative views. For minorities and many other communities nationwide, this could be disastrous and potentially lead to major shifts in policy regarding critical issues such as abortion, gun violence, LGBTQ+ rights, religion, and more.
In contrast to the 2016 election, with eight months remaining prior to the election date, former President Obama was not given the power to appoint a justice in place of Justice Antonin Scalia. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had refused to schedule hearings until President Trump had taken office. The unraveling of these events and our current situations beg one question: With election dates even closer, why is President Trump being given that power when former President Obama had not been given that power? Many Democrats are enraged by the Senate’s support on giving our current president the power to appoint a new justice when the election is less than 50 days away. Nearly 79% of Democrats are in support of the successor appointing the next justice. Among independents, 49% are in favor of the successor appointing the next justice.
Democracy is not a democracy if the people’s voices are not heard and represented. A majority of people do not support President Trump appointing the next Supreme Court Justice. Nevertheless, our president will not commit to the transition of power, nor back down from appointing the next justice. After the White House briefing, Representative Adam Schiff tweets, “This is how democracy dies. A president so desperate to cling to power that he won’t commit to a peaceful transition of power. That he seeks to throw out millions of votes. And a Republican Party too craven to say a word. But we will fight back. America belongs to the people. ”
This violates the people and all of our voices. MoCo For Change is committed to fighting for the people and our democracy. Through phone banking efforts, artivism, increasing awareness, and other legislative advocacy efforts, we are going to do everything in our ability to influence officials and extend the nominations until the 2020 election dates. We implore you to join our fight to protect our democracy and our rights.