Petition for hearings on Scalia’s successor gains 170,000 signatures

An online petition demanding that Senate Republicans hold hearings and allow an up-or-down vote on President Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court has gained over 170,000 signatures.

Credo Action, which refers to itself as a social change organization, posted the petition less than 24 hours after news of Justice Antonin Scalia’s death broke on Saturday and Republicans started pledging to block any Obama nominee.

{mosads}Hours after Scalia’s death, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the next president should choose Scalia’s successor, a position that was later echoed by several others, including Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), and Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who are all up for reelection this year.

Credo Action disagrees.

“President Obama has the constitutional power under Article II to nominate a new Supreme Court justice with the advice and consent of the Senate,” Heidi Hess, the group’s senior campaign manager, said in a statement. “Preemptively challenging that power and promising to undermine it is an unprecedented abdication of constitutional responsibility.”

The group referred to GOP challenges as partisan obstruction that violates their duty to the nation.

“We have to show that the political cost of obstruction will be too high,” the petition says. “Tell Senate Republican leadership: You must hold fair hearings and a timely up or down vote for President Obama’s nominee for Justice Scalia’s replacement on the Supreme Court.”