A conservative group is attacking Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR), who is up for re-election in 2014, with a TV ad buy demanding he refuse to let President Barack Obama fill three judicial vacancies on the powerful D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Judicial Crisis Network, a right-wing activist organization focused on the courts, has taken out what it claims is a six-figure ad buy airing the spot below for two weeks on Little Rock television, a spokesman for the group said.
“Pryor is helping Obama pack a key court with new liberal judges, who will review the EPA, the IRS, and agencies Obama is using to push his unconstitutional job-killing agenda,” says a narrator in the ad. “When Mark Pryor rubber stamps Obama’s liberal judges, it hurts Arkansas.”
Pryor campaign spokesman Erik Dorey responded swiftly in an email to TPM, “Another day, another false attack from Tom Cotton’s Washington special interest pals trying to smear Mark Pryor because he looks after Arkansans.”
The battle is escalating in Congress after Senate Republicans blocked one nominee to the court (whom all Democrats voted to advance) and are refusing to let the other two nominees through as well, without taking issue with their qualifications or ideology. They say none of the three vacancies should be filled.
The fight implicates the filibuster. Democrats have threatened to undo the minority’s ability to block nominees if Republicans don’t ease their mass filibuster of Obama’s D.C. Circuit picks.
Watch the conservative group’s ad, and scroll down to read the script:
Script of the ad:
Mark Pryor voted for every one of Obama’s liberal activist judges.
Every single one.
Now Pryor is helping Obama pack a key court with new liberal judges, who will review the EPA, the IRS, and agencies Obama is using to push his unconstitutional job-killing agenda.
When Mark Pryor rubber stamps Obama’s liberal judges, it hurts Arkansas.
Enough is enough: Tell Mark Pryor to go to work for Arkansas, not Obama.
This article was updated at 5:10 P.M. ET
