We Teach Our Children How the Constitution Works…The Senate Should Also Listen

From the Constitution of the United States, Article II, Section 2:

“…[B]y and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, [The President] shall appoint… Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States…”

From the Oath of Office taken by newly members of the U.S. Senate:

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter…”

The women and men we elect to the U.S. Senate pledge to follow these words. But some senators are speaking and acting as if their oaths and the Constitution are only suggestions and not promises that they make — and attest they will keep — to voters. How else can we explain the downright refusal of some Senate Republicans to do their jobs when it comes to filling the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court?

From the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case to present-day cases, the Supreme Court plays an enormous role in whether students have access to the great education they deserve. Despite the court’s importance in all our lives, immediately after Justice Antonin Scalia’s death, several Republican senators declared they would block anyone President Obama nominated to the court. They said — loudly and repeatedly, without even knowing who the nominee would be — that they had no intention of holding hearings or taking a vote. Republican leaders said they would not even meet with the nominee. They are ripping the process for filling vacancies on the Supreme Court to shreds.

The senators — many of whom have spent years asserting that the president ignores the Constitution — are turning their backs on the Constitution and now urging the president to ignore the Constitution. If that makes no sense to you, you’re in good company.

In a recent poll of voters in battleground states such as Ohio and Florida, nearly 70 percent said the Senate should consider and vote on President Obama’s nominee — as both parties have historically done. Since 1875, every nominee has received a hearing or a vote. Senators pledged to disregard this practice even before the president nominated anyone.

It turns out that Chief Judge Merrick Garland of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is the president’s choice. You can take action by urging the U.S. Senate to do its constitutional duty, give the president’s nominee a fair hearing, and take a vote. You can also send a message to your Senators on Twitter by following this Facebook link.

The Senate’s failure to act would be irresponsible and extreme. It would tell us that some Republican senators are less interested in doing what is honorable and more interested in following the lead of those like Donald Trump, whose overheated rhetoric and hateful words are tearing us apart.

This issue is about respect for our Constitution and the process it establishes for appointing Supreme Court justices. The president, who was twice elected by the voters, nominates and the U.S Senate considers and then gives the nominee an up or down vote. It’s just that simple.

That’s what we tell our children when they are just beginning to learn our governing principles. George Cassutto, a middle-school teacher in Virginia, knows this firsthand, as someone who teaches students about the Constitution and prepares them for the responsibilities of citizenship.

“As an 8th-grade civics teacher,” he says, “I’m teaching kids what it means to live in a democracy. I want them to have their say and express their views so they can make a better future for themselves.”

But the obstinacy of some Republicans in the U.S. Senate goes well beyond having a say and expressing views; they are teaching our children lessons in obstructing democracy and ignoring the document that sets out how our government should operate.

Like George, all of us tell students that even when they aren’t thrilled with who’s in charge, they can’t just stomp their feet, plug their ears, and yell, “I’m not listening! I’m not listening!” That’s not how we get along in school, at work, or in the U.S. Senate.

We do what we’re supposed to do. It’s called “doing your job.” We must take action and urge our senators — elected by us to represent us — to do theirs.