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As a concerned voter who can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I have written to an elected representative in the 55 years since I became old enough to vote, I implore you in the strongest terms possible to honor the precedent your majority leader set in the last year of the Obama administration by refusing to take up a vote to confirm a nominee to the Supreme Court this close to a presidential election.

As an elected representative, your foremost concern should be to protect the Constitution. While the action being urged by the president and the majority leader to quickly confirm whomever the president nominates might not violate written law, it certainly violates the spirit of the Constitution—rushing to confirm a nominee at this time may not be illegal, but it is unethical, and, as such, is not the behavior expected of those to whom the public has placed their trust.

In addition, as public figures, your behavior is constantly on display. The behavior of public figures such as you should thereby be guided by a desire to serve as a positive role model to guide the behavior of others in making decisions and taking actions that are grounded in fairness, honor and decency. Should you choose to confirm the president’s nominee, this close to an election, your actions would be setting an example falling woefully short of that objective.

No honorable justifications exist in support of confirming a nominee to the Court, at this time and under the present circumstances, that could possibly ameliorate the utter hypocrisy inherent in such an act, nor would it position you favorably in your desire to maintain a Republican majority in the Senate. In addition, should you choose to ignore precedent, overlook hypocrisy and violate all the rules of fair play and decent comportment in your rush to take advantage of this unforeseen twist of fate you envision playing to your advantage, the short-term gains you hope to accrue will, in all likelihood, given the law of reciprocity, cost you dearly in the long run.

What you do between now and the election will test your integrity like no other decision you may ever make in your political careers. Please choose wisely and deny this president’s bid to confirm a nominee to the Supreme Court for the remainder of his current term in office.

Tim Konrad, Concerned Citizen