WASHINGTON — Green Party candidates for federal office said today that Judge Amy Coney Barrett is out of step with the facts and most Americans’ values on the climate crisis, race, healthcare, abortion, immigration and LGBTQ rights, and so her confirmation must be blocked. Greens also said Democrats have failed to use what powers they have to fight Barrett’s nomination, preferring instead to exploit her appointment for electoral gain.

Green Party presidential nominee Howie Hawkins said the appointment of a new Supreme Court Justice should wait until after Election Day, criticizing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and other congressional Democrats for not using the minority’s parliamentary powers to delay the nomination. 

Green Party of the United States
www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
October 20, 2020

Contact:
Michael O’Neil, Communications Manager, [email protected], 202-804-2758
Holly Hart, Co-chair, Media Committee, [email protected], 202-804-2758
Craig Seeman, Co-chair, Media Committee,  [email protected], 202-804-2758

“The Democrats always shy away from the real fights in Congress. Joe Biden shepherded through Justices Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Democrats allowed McConnell to roll them on the Merrick Garland nomination in 2016 without obstructing the Majority Leader with parliamentary maneuvers. They’re all bark but no bite,” he said.

“The Democrats use Republican Supreme Court appointments to try to scare people into voting for them," Hawkins added. "What they don’t tell people is that they have allowed the court to evolve into a far more powerful and reactionary body than the founders ever imagined. It is time that we the people demand a reining in of the power of the court.”

Green candidate for US Senate Lisa Savage, who is challenging the seat of Sen. Susan Collins in Maine, said "Like many judges confirmed during the Trump presidency, Amy Coney Barrett is unqualified to serve. That she might be seated on our Supreme Court would be an unconscionable abdication of duty by every senator who votes for her. Were I a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I would certainly vote against her."

Tom Wakely, an Independent candidate for Texas' 21st Congressional District on the Green line, said, “Nothing could be more relevant to a candidate’s fitness to serve on the Supreme Court than their views on climate change. Humanity's choices over the next few years will set the course for the next few thousand years.”

Madelyn Hoffman, Green candidate for U.S. Senate for New Jersey, said, "Justice in this country has never worn a blindfold – and neither should we. The current nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, espouses highly reactionary views that could mean key rulings will overturn established precedent on abortion and same sex marriage."

Judge Barrett’s rulings and public statements provide evidence to disqualify her as a nominee. Some of these decisions and statements include:

• In 2019, Judge Barrett ruled that an employer’s use of the “N” word in the workplace did not necessarily prove “a hostile or abusive working environment” (AP).

• In 2006, Judge Barrett signed an ad by a group seeking to eliminate a woman’s right to choose that demanded "an end to the barbaric legacy of Roe v. Wade and [to] restore laws that protect the lives of unborn children" (CNN). She failed to disclose this ad and other material related to her views on abortion, which she is required to do as a nominee before the Senate Judiciary Committee (CNN).

• Judge Barrett just this year dissented when two of her colleagues ruled against a Trump administration decision that would endanger immigrants’ permanent resident status if they used food stamps, Medicaid or housing vouchers (AP).

• Judge Barrett at her hearings falsely claimed that manmade climate change is controversial and thus a matter of policy on which she could venture no opinion. She made this outrageous statement despite the fact that climate change is settled science and despite the frequent occurrence of climate-related disasters in just the past year, such as wildfires in Australia and California.

Public opinion polls support Green positions on the importance of climate change, tolerance towards immigrants, a woman’s right to choose and racial justice.

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