Two hours prior to hearing about the death of Justice Antonin Scalia on Saturday, the Republican leadership in Texas passed a resolution calling for the U.S. Senate to block the confirmation of anyone nominated by President Obama. The only exception would be for positions crucial to national security.
As reported by Breitbart Texas yesterday, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was found dead at a luxury resort in west Texas on Saturday morning. The Justice apparently died of natural causes in his sleep after a day of quail hunting at Cibolo Creek Ranch near Marfa, Texas.
The resolution put to the State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) of the Republican Party of Texas (RPT) passed by an almost unanimous vote on Saturday before anyone had heard of the untimely death of Justice Scalia. The resolution passed out of committee on Friday, Mark S. Ramsey, SREC SD7 and Resolutions Committee Chairman told Breitbart Texas.
Ramsey also said that during the question and answer period one SREC member suggested that the GOP controlled Congress should be more vigorous in it’s efforts to stop this lawless administration. He said later during the debate on the resolution, there was an attempt to amend it by striking criticism of Congress for not fighting hard enough or being effective enough in stopping the Obama Administration. Ramsey said, “As the sentiment in the room was clearly that Congress should be doing more, that amendment failed, and the full resolution then passed.”
The SREC was meeting in Austin for a regularly scheduled quarterly meeting.
The SREC resolution (SREC 29) entitled “Presidential Nominations, Moratorium on Presidential Nominations” begins:
WHEREAS President Obama has shown little respect for the rule of law by using executive orders to grant amnesty for thousands of illegal aliens;
WHEREAS President Obama’s executive actions assaulted the constitutional rights of Americans to keep and bear arms;
WHEREAS President Obama has shown disregard for the legislative process, rule of law, checks and balances and separation of powers on numerous other occasions;
WHEREAS Obama’s nominees have taken positions that are lawless and contrary to the Constitutional system of government;
WHEREAS Congress has failed to use its constitutional authority to restrict the President’s lawless behavior;
WHEREAS Congressional Republicans, though rebuking of the President in speech, regularly capitulate to the President and his agenda;
The resolution then concludes, “BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED the U.S. Senate, under the leadership of a Republican majority, should reassert their constitutional authority by refusing to confirm anyone nominated by President Obama for any public office except those for positions crucial to national security.”
“Furthermore, all national security nominees should be vetted by the strictest standard with emphasis on their record of respect for the Constitution,” the resolution stated.
The resolution on the moratorium on presidential nominations was submitted by Tanya Robertson (SD11) and Mike Olcott (SD30). Robertson told Breitbart Texas that the resolution was authored a few weeks before the meeting.
According to Ramsey, in the discussion leading up to it’s passage, the resolution was described by one of the authors, Mike Olcott, SREC Committeeman from SD30, as being one of the only tools left to combat the administration’s lawless actions. Olcott said the “power of the purse” was surrendered in the Omnibus bill.
“Conservatives across Texas are extremely frustrated with the Republican establishment and Republican leadership in Washington for doing absolutely nothing to stop Obama’s lawless, unconstitutional actions,” Olcott told Breitbart Texas in an interview. “The passage of the Omnibus spending bill in December by a Republican controlled House and Senate is a perfect example. It gave Obama everything he wanted including funding for Planned Parenthood, Syrian Refugee resettlement, and unconstitutional executive amnesty. When they forfeited the power of the purse granted by the Constitution, their last tool to fight back is to deny this lawless president the ability to appoint judges who share his blatant disregard for the Constitution.”
“Our resolution is an attempt to encourage the Republicans in the U.S. Senate to finally stand up for the American people and U.S. Constitution,” he continued. “In light of the passing of Judge Scalia, it is critical that the Senate Republicans take this stand or we risk losing this great Republic!”
Robertson told Breitbart Texas, “After our Republican controlled Congress submitted to all of the President’s wishes by passing the Omnibus spending bill, which funded everything they campaigned on defunding, such as Planned Parenthood, we thought all was lost until this issue came up.”
She added, “The conservatives in Senate District 11 that I represent were struggling for a reason to stay engaged with the Republican party and we saw this as an opportunity to make a clear statement that there are some SREC members listening to them, fighting for their voices to be heard, and were there to give them encouragement that not all is lost.”
The committeewoman from the Clear Lake, Texas, area continued, “Accountability shouldn’t be viewed as a bad word by any elected official but it was clear when Congressman [Joe] Barton addressed the body of the SREC, he felt they deserved more time to fix things and as he mentioned a few times, that the Texas Republican delegation is the solution to our problems.”
A copy of the resolution is being forwarded to the Governor, Lt. Governor, all Republican members of the Texas Senate and Texas House of Representatives, and all Republican members of the Texas Congressional Delegation.
Lana Shadwick is a contributing writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. She has served as an associate judge and prosecutor in Texas. Follow her on Twitter @LanaShadwick2
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