Martin Sheen pressures vulnerable Republican on SCOTUS nominee

Martin Sheen is weighing into the looming Supreme Court confirmation fight, telling voters to push Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) to give President Obama’s nominee “fair consideration.” 

“Republicans are playing politics with our Constitution and with the Supreme Court. Senator Ron Johnson has said he doesn’t think that Congress should even give a fair hearing to anyone nominated by President Obama,” Sheen said in a robocall sponsored by People For the American Way. 

{mosads}The robocall, which is going to members and supporters of the progressive outside group, urges voters to call Johnson’s Washington office and “tell him you expect him to put his constitutional duties first.” 

Sheen added that Johnson’s stance is “clearly irresponsible and it puts partisanship above the law.”

Republicans have largely backed the strategy of leaving open the Supreme Court seat of the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who died unexpectedly Saturday, until the next president is sworn in. 

Johnson, however, has come under fire from the media who suggest he’s sent mixed messages on what he thinks the Senate should do on Obama’s forthcoming nomination. 

Speaking to a local Wisconsin radio station earlier this week, the Republican senator said that he thought the seat should remain vacant until after the election and let the next president nominate someone. 

But, in the same interview, he said that he’s “never said that we shouldn’t vote” suggesting that decision rests with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) but also that “doing nothing is still an action.”