Supreme Court Vacancy
Floor Speech
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Mrs. BEATTY. Thank you so much, Congressman Jeffries. It is certainly an honor and a privilege for me to join you this evening as coanchor for this Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour.
Congressman Jeffries' scholarship and distinguished talents as a member of the Judiciary Committee have not gone unnoticed. I thank him for leading by example in challenging us to initiate and follow through in sending a message on Senate Republicans' refusal to act on the Supreme Court vacancy.
In part, tonight's Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour, Senate Republicans: Do Your Job, does just that.
As you reflected in your opening statement, Article II, section 2, of the Constitution expressly designates that the President has a duty to name and the Senate has a responsibility to advise and consent a nominee to fill the seat.
President Obama takes this very seriously. He has stated: ``It's a decision to which I devote considerable time, deep reflection, careful deliberation, and serious consultation with legal experts, members of both political parties, and people across the political spectrum.''
But Republicans have made a decision to completely refuse consideration of anyone that President Obama nominates to the Supreme Court. In fact, they have stated that they won't hold a hearing or a vote before the full Senate.
Senate Democrats never acted so recklessly when faced with this situation in 1988, when there was a vote to confirm Justice Kennedy. There was no talk of doing nothing until after that year's election because it was unthinkable then to leave the Court shorthanded for that long. And it remains so now.
The power of the Court, Mr. Speaker, is reflected in the work it does. Its decisions often shape the policy as profoundly as any law passed by Congress or any action taken by the President of these United States.
When we look back to our history, especially as African Americans, the importance of the decisions handed down by the Supreme Court cannot be overstated.
For example, most of us are familiar with Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, which reversed Plessy v. Ferguson and its ``separate but equal'' ruling.
Striking down segregation in our Nation's public schools provided a major catalyst for the civil rights movement and made advances in desegregating housing, public accommodations, and institutions of higher education possible.
After Brown, the Nation made some great strides towards opening the doors of education to all students. Unfortunately, the promise of the Brown decision remains unfulfilled in many ways.
More than 2 million Black students attend schools where 90 percent of the student body is made up of minority students. On average, schools serving more minority populations have less experienced, lower paid teachers who are less likely to be certified.
A report from the Center for American Progress found that a 10 percent point increase in students of color at a school is associated with a decrease in per-pupil spending of $75.
In many ways, more than 60 years after Brown v. Board of Education school systems in the United States are still separate and unequal. And we are just not witnessing educational disparities at the elementary and secondary education level. College enrollment is racially polarized.
White students are overrepresented in selective colleges, which have more resources to educate and to support them, while African American students are overrepresented in less selective institutions.
Mr. Speaker and Congressman Jeffries, you see where I am going with that.
This is also why the late Justice Scalia's comments during oral arguments of the pending United States Supreme Court case, Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, were so disturbing.
He stated, in part: Maybe the University of Texas ought to have fewer African Americans.
These comments are inaccurate and insulting to me and to African Americans. They undervalue the historic achievement that African Americans have made.
Thousands of Black Americans have excelled to the top tier of their universities. Many of them you will hear from tonight because they are members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
They are scholars. They are the conscience of the Congress. They represent the diversity of America's best universities and of America's Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
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Mrs. BEATTY. Thank you so much, Congressman Jeffries.
Hearing you quote those things, three things come to mind. First, let me say that Congressman Steny Hoyer was absolutely right when he says that this issue of not filling the vacancy is not related to only one group. So I want to say, after hearing what you said and many others of our members of the Congressional Black Caucus, it is important for us to know why we are calling on the Senate Republicans to do their job, and that is because we are the voice for those who are not often represented. We are the voice for those when you talk about issues related to women and women's rights, when you talk about issues that are related to things that affect you and me, and when you talk about the article that Congresswoman Barbara Lee entered into the Record, ``Blacks See Bias in Delay on a Scalia Successor.''
Now, that article says it all. That article specifically states that many folks believe, in this wonderful America that we live in, that it is also because of the color of his skin. I think that is another reason that we come as a strong 46 members of the Congressional Black Caucus, because the facts work against them.
Think about it. When we look at the number of people who have been appointed, when we look at the number of days, if you look at since 1975, it has only taken an average of 67 days to confirm a President's nominee to the Supreme Court. The Senate has never taken more than 125 days to vote on a Supreme Court nominee, and there are 325 days left in President Obama's term.
Since the early 1900s, six Supreme Court Justices have been confirmed in an election year. When I think about your question and I think about your sharing with us some of the comments that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said, let me add this one to the Record. And it is something he got right.
He said that the American people should have the right to choose the President who will pick the next Supreme Court Justice deciding the future balance of the Nation's highest court. Well, he got that right. Because you know what. The people did pick the President when they picked President Barack Obama in 2012, who won the election by 5 million votes.
I am calling on him and the Senate Republicans to do their job, to allow the President to do what the Constitution tells us, to allow the President, who has already said that he is going to bring somebody who is full of scholarship, he is going to bring someone who is committed and capable to doing the people's work--I wanted to add that to your statement and share with everyone tonight that is why we are here.
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Mrs. BEATTY. Congressman Jeffries, I think you answered that question for me when you gave the long list of successes that this President has done without their help.
That gave me pause to think: What is it that is keeping them from doing their job? Why is it that they are so threatened?
Maybe it is the success that this President has brought forth not for you and I, not for the 435 Members of us, but he has done this for this Nation. He has made it a better place.
When we look at what the Justices do and represent, when we think about liberties and freedoms and the economy and our rights, I think they are afraid that he will appoint someone who will have that same scholarship, who will have that same success, someone who will bring balance. I think they are afraid of the balance.
In the words of another one of our colleagues, I might add, from the great State of Ohio, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus--she has words that she is entering, but I would like to quote from her words to remind us why we are saying: Senate Republicans, do your job.
She reminds us, as Members of Congress, we made a promise to our constituents that we would faithfully discharge the duties and the oath of office which we took, which we were elected to. She reminded me in her words that it is so important for us to say tonight to the Senate: Do your job. Do your job.
I think they are afraid. So I am going to issue a challenge. Congresswoman Barbara Lee said that you are here tonight initiating this topic because we are sounding the alarm, we are ringing the bell.
I challenge them to answer that question. I challenge them to share with not only the Congressional Black Caucus, not only the Members of Congress, not only the Members of the Senate, but they have an obligation to America, to the citizens of these United States, Mr. Speaker, for them to tell us why they are not doing their job.
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