CLEVELAND — Seeing a chance to reshape the Supreme Court for decades, Hillary Clinton’s campaign late Tuesday raised a red flag warning that Donald Trump will keep conservatives in charge and she sneered that the Republican admires Justice Clarence Thomas.
As the second day of the Republican National Convention opened here, Clinton’s campaign emailed her alert to supporters that a Trump election would spoil the Democrats’ chance to reshape the court into a liberal operation.
Trump, she said, “sees this election as an opportunity to pack the courts with jurists who could turn back the clock on issues like marriage equality and reproductive rights.The stakes for this election could not be higher, as the next president could appoint more than one justice.”
The next president will change the direction of court, now split 4-4 after the death of the tie-breaker, conservative icon Antonin Scalia.
With one and possibly two Republican seats up for grabs, that divide could widen to 7-2.
Here memo is below.
Hillary Clinton will appoint justices to the Supreme Court who will protect the Constitutional principles of liberty and equality for all regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation or political viewpoint. Donald Trump, on the other hand, sees this election as an opportunity to pack the courts with jurists who could turn back the clock on issues like marriage equality and reproductive rights.
The stakes for this election could not be higher, as the next president could appoint more than one justice.
“Now if a Republican wins this election and gets the chance to stack the Supreme Court with right-wing justices, together they will accelerate the move to take America in the wrong direction on so many issues that you and I have fought for and that many Americans now take for granted.” – Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, 1/10/16
— Trump On Whether Pro-Life Would Be A Litmus Test For Supreme Court Nominees: “It Is. It Is.”
— Trump said he would “strongly consider” appointing Supreme Court justices that would overturn the decision on marriage equality.
— Trump’s proposed Supreme Court picks had a history of anti-LGBT, anti-choice positions, and supported voter ID laws.
— Donald Trump called for Republicans to block President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee.
— Donald Trump said Justice Clarence Thomas, who rejected marriage equality and joined an opinion saying that said Roe v. Wade should be “overruled,” is his favorite justice.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
