Demonstrators angry with South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham gathered outside his Southeast D.C. home in the early morning hours Monday to protest his push for President Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
According to a news release, more than 100 protesters gathered before daybreak around 6 a.m.
There were speeches, chants, homemade drums and a recording of Graham from 2016 saying the next president should choose the nominee playing over a loudspeaker:
“If there’s a Republican president (elected) in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said, ‘Let’s let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination.’”
Graham is now chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and it will be his task to vet Trump’s pick to replace Ginsburg.
“In the spirit of RBG, we will not allow a double standard in how our Congress deals with late-term Supreme Court appointments,” Aura Angelica, an organizer with the DC chapter of the Sunrise Movement, said in a release.
“Sen. Graham told us he wouldn’t allow a Supreme Court nominee during an election year — he told us to use his words against him if a seat opened up this late in the game — we’re here today, doing just that.”
We’re here with your wake-up call @LindseyGrahamSC RBG’s seat will be filled after the election pic.twitter.com/0WIDUtbLfc
— Sunrise Movement DC (@SunriseMvmtDC) September 21, 2020
“The right thing to do is to wait until after the election to fill the seat,” Wren Patton, a D.C. resident and also an organizer with Sunrise Movement DC, said. “We can’t let the GOP steal another seat on the Supreme Court.”
Graham defended his position over the weekend.
“The rules have changed as far as I’m concerned,” Graham said Saturday.
He currently faces an election challenge from Democrat Jaime Harrison.
D.C. police issued two audio warnings around 7 a.m., saying the protest violated the Residential Tranquility Act. According to a release, they threatened arrest to both protesters and press on the block.
Demonstrators left Graham’s home around 8 a.m. and headed to the steps of the Supreme Court.
No arrests were made.
WTOP’s Alejandro Alvarez and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
