A group of progressive, pro-Constitution activists were in Washington this week to protest Republican senators who have pledged to prevent President Obama from appointing a Supreme Court justice this year, but they weren’t prepared for an impromptu quiz about the Constitution.
“Fill the Supreme Court vacancy,” one placard carried by the Generation Progress protesters read. “The Constitution is clear,” said another.
One of the activists wore a Constitution costume for the event, so when they arrived at Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch’s office, communications director J.P. Freire conducted a pop quiz. The first question — when was the Constitution written — was answered correctly (1787), but the second question didn’t go as smoothly.
“Who was your writer?” the Hatch aide asked about the Constitution.
“Who was my writer?” the costumed activist replied. “I believe it was mainly Thomas Jefferson.” Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, but James Madison is known as the father of the Constitution.
As the activists urged Hatch’s team to “respect the Constitution” by confirming Obama’s eventual Supreme Court nominee, Freire cited Democratic senators who have argued against confirming justices in the final year of a presidency, including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, “who I believe also has a certain amount of respect for the Constitution,” Freire said.
