An Open Letter to the Senators of Georgia on the Passing of Justice Ginsburg¶
The sad passing of a Supreme Court Justice requires me to reach out to my Senators to remind them of the statements made under prior circumstances. They need to recall their prior positions and honor those stances. Otherwise, how conservative (i.e “disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change.”) could they be?
Senators,
It is a sad day that I must send you a message in light of the recent passing of Justice Ginsberg. Today the world has lost a long respected and prudent Justice that can never be directly replaced.
However, I feel duty bound as a regular voter (as in I haven’t missed an election, including city or primary, in over 12 years) to remind you of your duty to your country, position in the “world’s greatest deliberative body,” and to your constituents. In short:
Withhold your council and consent on any new Supreme Court appointee until after the presidential swearing-in this upcoming January.
In the most abstract, a balanced judiciary is a pragmatic means to ensure a conservative evolution of our republic independent of the transient volatility of elected officials. Recall, this was the intent of the authors of the Constitution. The Judicial branch should not be swayed by the vagaries of the electorate, but should provide pragmatic review of all bills passed by the Legislature and signed into law by the President.
But, I understand that abstract and idealistic appeals are seldom heard in the current climate. Therefore, allow me to be more direct: Do what was done during the last presidential election and block any nomination. A true conservative would stand by statements made a scant four years ago. Paraphrasing Senator Isakson: “[T]he American people should have a voice in this process by allowing the next president to select and the next Senate to confirm Justice [Ginsburg]’s replacement” 1. Or, to quote Senator Purdue, 2:
The former Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Vice President Biden, recognized this in 1992 when he said that, quote, ‘once the political season is underway, and it is, action on a Supreme Court nomination must be’ – I want to emphasize that must – ‘must be put off until after the election campaign is over. That is what is fair to the nominee and is central to the process. Otherwise, it seems to me, we will be in deep trouble as an institution.’
These statements are as true today as they were four years ago. It is your duty to defer to the voters. If you do not block any nomination, I expect you will boldly and publicly claim your hypocrisies.
Remember, being conservative does not mean never changing. It implies thoughtful, pragmatic steps that will actually move our republic to a better future. Please put your country before you politics and repeat the behavior of four years ago. Do not approve a new Supreme Court Justice before January. Let the voters decide who should make the appointment.
P.S.: Please post a real email address on you official website to which I can send correspondences and not a webform (which is simply data harvesting). You expect me to provide you much of my contact information, but you cannot give me an email address that I may directly use to contact you?