In light of Donald Trump’s nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States, this is a plea to the principled and moderate Republican and Democratic members of the United States Senate, such as Susan Collins (R-Maine), Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.), to act courageously and wisely at this critical moment in our nation’s history to preserve the integrity and credibility of our Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court is essential to our constitutional system. It must stand as a politically neutral body that faithfully and independently interprets and applies our Constitution. As James Madison observed at the very founding of our nation, “independent tribunals of justice” are the “guardians” of our Constitution, and they must “be an impenetrable bulwark” that will “resist every encroachment” upon the fundamental norms of our democracy.

At this moment, we face a crisis that threatens to undermine the partisan neutrality that is essential to enable the Supreme Court to meet this core responsibility. In the past, at similar moments, members of Congress have boldly stood up to protect the integrity of the Supreme Court. The best example of this occurred in 1937 when Democrats who controlled the Senate defeated Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt’s “court-packing” plan, which was designed to enable him to appoint additional justices who would vote to uphold the constitutionality of his policies. As former Chief Justice William Rehnquist once observed, at this historic moment it was the courageous and principled members of the United States Senate “who stepped in and saved the independence of the judiciary.”

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