Civil Rights leaders ask Senator to honor Constitution

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WTVQ) – On February 23, Senator McConnell and other Senate Republicans decided to refuse to move forward any Supreme Court candidate President Barack Obama nominated.

According to the NAACP, Kentucky Civil Rights leaders plan to gather on March 3, at 1 p.m. EST at the NAACP Headquarters in Louisville for a press conference, calling on Kentucky’s senior U.S. senator to honor the Constitution by giving fair consideration to President Obama’s nominee.

Courtesy: Gage Skidmore / Flickr / CC BY-SA 2.0

The leaders say they will also be releasing a coalition letter signed by 11 civil rights groups to Senator McConnell, condemning his attempts to delay filling a vacancy on the Supreme Court.

McConnell and the others claimed a “tradition” of not confirming lifetime appointees in the last year of a president’s Term, citing the “Thurmond Rule”

In July 2008, when his Democratic counterparts were attempting to delay lower court appointments, Senator McConnell himself said “I think it’s clear that there is no Thurmond Rule. And I think the facts demonstrate that.”