National Council of Asian Pacific Americans Demands Senate Republicans End Unprecedented Obstruction of Supreme Court

NCAPA staff members Nisha Ramachandran, Mary Tablante and Christopher Kang support the We Need Nine campaign. The campaign is a project of the Constitutional Responsibility Project to urge Senators to fulfill their constitutional duty. (Photo: WeNeedNine.org)

Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) leaders within the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans (NCAPA) and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) are concluding an AAPI Week of Action to demand that Senate Republicans hold a hearing on Chief Judge Merrick Garland’s nomination to the United States Supreme Court.

On Tuesday, CAPAC Chair Rep. Judy Chu (CA-27), Rep. Bobby Scott (VA-03), NCAPA National Director Christopher Kang, and Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC President and Executive Director Mee Moua held a press conference in front of the Supreme Court.

“It has been more than 70 days since the President nominated Chief Judge Merrick Garland to serve on the Supreme Court--and no nominee in more than 50 years has waited this long for a hearing,” said NCAPA National Director Christopher Kang. “It is long past time for Republican Senators to do their job and to fulfill their constitutional duty. Vital issues affecting AAPIs and all communities, from the President’s immigration actions to reproductive justice, rely on Supreme Court decisions. All Americans deserve a full court.”

This week, NCAPA and Advancing Justice | AAJC also sent a letter--joined by 70 AAPI organizations--to Senator Charles Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, calling for an end to the unprecedented obstruction. Fourteen additional NCAPA members* were among the signatories.

Senate Republicans also are obstructing five pending Asian American nominees to serve in lifetime federal judgeships, as Kang wrote in The Huffington Post.

Individuals can tell the Senate to do its job by supporting and signing on to the We Need Nine campaign.

*NCAPA members who joined the NCAPA-Advancing Justice | AAJC letter are: Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF), Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS), Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, AFL-CIO (APALA), Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO), Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics (LEAP), National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association (NAAPIMHA), National Asian Pacific American Families Against Substance Abuse (NAPAFASA), National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (National CAPACD), National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC), National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA), OCA – Asian Pacific American Advocates, Sikh American Legal Defense & Education Fund (SALDEF), Southeast Asia Resource Action Center (SEARAC) and The Center for APA Women.

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Based in Washington, D.C., the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans is a coalition of 35 national Asian Pacific American organizations that serves to represent the interests of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities and to provide a national voice for our communities’ concerns. Our communities are the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in the United States, currently making up approximately six percent of the population.