Lawmakers Say Critics Of POTUS Naming Supreme Court Nominee Racist

Since the death of controversial U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia last week, the matter has become a political football and an all-out partisan tug-of-war. Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are speaking out against the GOP’s aims to obstruct President Barack Obama appointing a nominee to occupy Scalia’s former seat saying that their actions are racist, according to a report by the Huffington Post.

HuffPost zeroed in on comments made by CBC chairman Rep. G.K. Butterfield, who spoke with the New York Times in a piece that examined the views held by some African-Americans that the GOP’s actions are part of a bias the party has against President Obama. In the Times piece, Butterfield suggests that racism is at the heart of the clash between the president and GOP lawmakers.

New York Times reports:

“It’s more than a political motive — it has a smell of racism,” said Representative G. K. Butterfield, Democrat of North Carolina, the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

“I can tick instance after instance over the last seven years where Republicans have purposely tried to diminish the president’s authority,” Mr. Butterfield said. “This is just really extreme, and leads me to the conclusion that if this was any other president who was not African-American, it would not have been handled this way.”

Many members of the GOP are electing to be mum over the racism claims, but stand behind Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell‘s statements from last weekend that the next elected president should select the High Court’s next nominee.

Rep. Elijah Cummings says he agrees with Butterfield’s stances in an interview highlighted in the HuffPost report, and Democratic Party presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has backed the CBC regarding their claims in a recent statement delivered this week in Harlem, New York.

SOURCE: Huffington Post, NYT | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty | VIDEO CREDIT: Inform

SEE ALSO:

Expert: New Justice Should Help Nation Overcome Its Racist, Sexist & Elitist Founding

Supreme Court Justice Scalia Says Black Students Should Attend “Slower” Colleges