FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE!
DULUTH, Minn.—U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar said on Wednesday that she will not support President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch.
"Senators have a solemn obligation to advise and consent on a president's nominee for the Supreme Court," Klobuchar said in an emailed statement. "... His judicial record on critical issues including the rights of children with disabilities, campaign finance, and preserving health and safety protections have led me to conclude that I cannot support his nomination."
Klobuchar joins Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., in denying support to Gorsuch. Franken announced his decision earlier this week, telling WCCO Sunday Morning that he feared Gorsuch would favor corporations over workers and consumers. Klobuchar was also wary of the nominee's priorities.
"The Supreme Court makes decisions that affect the lives of people across the country," Klobuchar said. "We need justices who understand that and will uphold the motto on the Supreme Court building — to help all Americans achieve 'equal justice under law.' "
Klobuchar's cited Gorsuch's responses during his confirmation hearings in the Senate earlier this month in her reasoning.
"During Judge Gorsuch's hearing, I asked about an opinion he wrote on the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a law passed to ensure that students with disabilities are supported in school," she wrote in her email. "In a unanimous 8-0 decision last week, the Supreme Court ruled against the narrow interpretation of that law supported by the judge that limited the educational opportunities of children with disabilities."
In Minnesota, 124,000 children rely on IDEA, according to Klobuchar's statement.
"Every justice on the Court must protect them," she said, before continuing with further details explaining her decision.
"I also focused on the judge's approach to campaign finance law," she said. "Since Citizens United, hidden super-sized PAC money has had an outsized influence in our politics, distorting our representative democracy. In a concurring opinion in Riddle v. Hickenlooper, Judge Gorsuch went out of his way to suggest that the Court should apply strict scrutiny to laws restricting campaign contributions. If the Supreme Court adopted that view, it could compromise the few remaining campaign finance protections that are still on the books."
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http://www.wday.com/news/4242756-klobuchar...
Posted By: agnes levine
Thursday, March 30th 2017 at 11:40AM
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