Supreme Court Reconvenes for October Term With Only Eight Justices as Senator Burr Refuses to Do His Job

Press Release

As Deborah continues talking with North Carolina voters this week about the need for change from politics as usual, the Supreme Court is set to begin its fall term without a ninth Justice--because typical politicians like Richard Burr are choosing to put partisan politics ahead of the people they represent.

The nomination of Judge Merrick Garland, who the former top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, referred to as being "highly qualified," has now gone without Senate consideration for an unprecedented 200 days. That's more than any previous Supreme Court nomination in history.

"Senator Burr is violating his oath of office to "support and defend the Constitution.' He needs to stop playing politics and do his job," said Deborah Ross, Democratic nominee for US Senate. "When he got to the Senate, Richard Burr said himself that these kinds of games are "simply not fair.' That's still true today, and the fact that Richard Burr doesn't think so anymore is exactly what's wrong with Washington."

Judge Merrick Garland isn't the only judicial nomination Senator Burr is holding up. The Eastern District of North Carolina has been without a full bench for more than 10 years and is the nation's longest running judicial vacancy, and has been deemed a judicial emergency. But Senator Burr continues to hold up Judge Patricia Timmons-Goodson's nomination, claiming, "we converse with the judges on the bench, and there is not a judicial emergency from the standpoint of their caseload."

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