Less than 48 hours after the death of Antonin Scalia, Senator Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican, sided with partisan obstructionism in his the U.S. Senate and issued a statement that he would refuse to consider any nominee to the Supreme Court this year.

Please take one minute to call Senator Portman's office and urge that he change course on the Supreme Court issue. Ask that Portman call on GOP Senate leadership, particularly Sen. Chuck Grassley, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to hold hearings on the Supreme Court nominee and an up-or-down vote. 

TALKING POINTS:

• It's the Constitutional responsibility of the President to appoint Justices to the U.S. Supreme Court -- "by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate" (Article II, Section II)
   
• The Senate GOP's leaders issued a statement moments after Justice Antonin Scalia's death indicating their intent to obstruct the judicial nomination process until at least 2017; this unprecedented act defies their Oaths of Office and denies the Constitutional responsibilities for which they're paid to serve
   
• National polling by CBS, CNN and the New York Times shows most Americans support filling the Supreme Court vacancy this year. The percent of those opposed has been declining with each poll released from February to April
   
• Sen. Rob Portman has exactly the same amount of time left in his Senate term as President Obama has left in his Presidential term - there is no lame-duck argument that holds water for Ohio's junior Senator
   
• Chief Judge Merrick Garland, the pending SCOTUS nominee, is an immensely qualified, moderate jurist who has long been praised by Senators on both sides of the aisle, including Senators who are now refusing to hold a hearing or a vote on his nomination
   
• Portman's "courtesy meeting" with Judge Garland does not meet the duties of his office; he must call on his GOP colleagues on the Senate Judiciary Committee to do their jobs and move to hold hearings and an up-or-down vote on this nominee