Conservative group launches $2.3 million ad buy to boost Barrett SCOTUS nomination

Turning Point USA, a prominent conservative advocacy group aimed at energizing young voters, is launching a $2.3 million ad buy to promote Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court ahead of what is expected to be a contentious Senate confirmation. 

The ad buy, reported first by The Hill, will pour $1.5 million into ads airing for two weeks on Fox News and CNN and another $800,000 to feature ads on digital platforms. Another round of ads is expected next week. 

The ads accuse Democrats of having a history of smearing conservative nominees to the Supreme Court. 

The ad notes past contentious votes on nominees to the high court, including Robert Bork, who was rejected by the Senate over his views on civil rights, and now-Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh, who were accused of sexual misconduct.

“In ’87, Robert Bork was appointed by Reagan. The smears were outrageous. They worked. In ’91 it was tried again,” a narrator says in one ad, referring to Thomas. “Two years ago, they went for the hat trick, making Kavanaugh answer for lies…”

“Want to know how we got here? Just look back at history.”

An Instagram ad echoes the same message, with the caption, “The Left Has A Long History Of Trying To Destroy Constitutionalist Supreme Court Nominees!”

Another video ad notes votes the Senate has taken in times of national crises, suggesting there is no good reason for the upper chamber to not go about the “people’s business” now.

“After the British burned the U.S. Capitol, the Senate met and voted. In October, 1918, the Spanish Flu killed 200,000, our troops were fighting and winning the Great War. The Senate met and voted. Through depressions, wars, disasters, the Senate always conducts the people’s business. Now, it must provide advice and consent on the Supreme Court nominee,” a narrator says in the second ad.

“We’ve been through worse. The Senate should meet and vote.”

Turning Point Action, an affiliated group, is also activating 350 national chapters to disseminate messaging supporting Barrett’s nomination to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the death of the late liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“The law is all about precedent and when it comes to the Supreme Court, the precedent is very clear. Even during past pandemics and wars, the Senate has gathered to advise and consent. Ten times presidents have worked to fill a vacancy just before a presidential election when their party controlled the Senate, as is now the case,” Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA founder and president, told The Hill. 

“That is all we are advocating for—that the Senate would once again rise to the challenge of our time and vote on Amy Coney Barrett, and to do so in a way that honors her, her family and the country. The American people deserve a full, nine member Supreme Court, and Turning Point USA knows it’s worth going all in on this fight to help make sure that happens.”

Turning Point USA is just the latest group to dump money into the Supreme Court fight, with both conservative and liberal organizations already dedicating millions to either support or oppose Barrett’s nomination.

The confirmation hearing for Barrett, currently a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, will begin Monday in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Republicans have been bullish on confirming Barrett, rejecting criticism the confirmation battle is taking place too soon before a presidential election.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who oversees a 53-47 Senate majority, appears to have locked up the number of votes he needs to confirm Barrett after just two Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), said they would not vote to confirm because of the proximity to the election. 

Democrats have torn into the GOP over the breakneck pace for the confirmation, noting that the party blocked former President Barack Obama from confirming a justice months before the 2016 election.

Republicans have maintained this year is different because both parties control the Senate and the White House, versus when in 2016 the GOP held the Senate in Obama’s final full year in office.