Amended in Assembly March 10, 2016

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 32

Introduced by Assembly Member Alejo

February 19, 2016

Assembly Joint Resolution No. 32—Relative to United States Supreme Court begin delete Nominations. end delete begin insert nominations. end insert

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AJR 32, as amended, Alejo. United States Supreme Court: nominations.

This measure would urge the United States Senate to fairly consider the nomination for Justice to the United States Supreme Court submitted by President Obama and to vote up or down on the nomination.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, The Supreme Court of the United States is the
highest court in the nation and considers important national
questions whose determination is necessary for the orderly
operation of the federal government and the government of the
several states; and

WHEREAS, Having an even number of justices on the Supreme
Court of the United States makes it possible to have numerical ties
in controversial decisions before the Court, which could leave
unresolved conflicts of law between the several Circuit Courts of
Appeal across the begin delete Nation; end delete begin insert nation; end insert and

WHEREAS, A failure to ensure conformity of federal and state
law across the several begin delete states, end delete begin insert states would severely compromise end insert
the fundamental constitutional principles of due process and equal
protection under the begin delete law will be severely compromised; end delete begin insert law; end insert and

WHEREAS, Section 2 of Article II of the United States
Constitution provides the President of the United States with the
power to nominate justices to the Supreme Court of the United
States with the advice and consent of the United States Senate;
and

WHEREAS, Barack Obama was duly reelected as President of
the United States on November 6, 2012, with 332 electoral votes
and nearly 5 million more votes than his opponent, and retains the
full powers and privileges of that office until his term ends on
January 20, 2017; and

WHEREAS, By reelecting Barack Obama as President of the
United States, the American people have already voiced their
affirmation that he is their choice to exercise the powers of the
Presidency, including filling vacancies on the Supreme Court of
the United States that arise during his term in office; and

WHEREAS, There is historical precedence for confirming
nominees for Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
during the final year of a president’s term, including Justice
Anthony Kennedy of California by President Ronald Reagan in
1988; Justice Frank Murphy of Michigan by President Franklin
D. Roosevelt in 1940; and Justice Louis Brandeis of Kentucky by
President Woodrow Wilson in 1916; begin delete now, therefore, be it end delete begin insert and end insert

begin insert

WHEREAS, The United States Senate has a duty afforded by
Section 2 of Article II of the United States Constitution to provide
the President of the United States with their advice and consent
to nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States made
by the President, and refusing to even give due consideration to
a presidential nomination would be a dereliction of the Senate’s
constitutional duties; now, therefore, be it

end insert

Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature urges the United States
Senate to give whomever President Obama nominates to the
Supreme Court of the United States fair and honest consideration
through an up or down vote, both on the Senate Judiciary
Committee and on the floor of the United States Senate; and be it
further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the
Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, to the Majority
Leader of the Senate, to the Minority Leader of the Senate, and to
each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress
of the United States.