About Rod D. Martin
Praise for Rod D. Martin
Book Rod to Speak
Politics & Economics
Technology & Markets
Faith & Culture
Open Letter To Presidential Candidates on Supreme Court Justices: No More Surprises
October 2, 2015
Washington, DC
The next President is likely to appoint as many as three justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, establishing a new majority and shaping the judicial branch for a generation. Those justices will serve for many years after the next President leaves office and their votes will impact every facet of American life.
Will the next President select justices who abide by the text and original meaning of the Constitution, even when doing so is politically unpopular or inconvenient? Or will our system of checks and balances be further damaged by the selection of justices who take for themselves the power to rewrite the Constitution according to their own political preferences? Sadly, despite three Republican presidencies and seven appointments to the Court in the last thirty-five years, we still have a Court that too frequently does the latter.
The undersigned conservative leaders are determined to reverse that trend. To that end, candidates who seek the presidency must, at minimum:
• Commit to nominating justices with a proven, judicial record of upholding the Constitution. No matter their credentials, avoid nominees with thin paper trails who have failed to publicly demonstrate their unwavering commitment to limited, constitutional government.
• Commit to spending the energy and political capital necessary to win a confirmation battle. Liberal activists would do anything to block the appointment of justices in the mold of Scalia, Thomas, or Alito. The next president must demand an up-or-down vote for such justices, and support efforts to eliminate the judicial filibuster.
• Commit to ending the liberal American Bar Association’s preferential role in screening judicial nominees.
• Commit to reminding the justices they appoint that they take an oath to faithfully support and defend the Constitution, and that their oath continues throughout the time they hold office.
Hon. Edwin Meese III
Former Attorney General
President Ronald Reagan
Hon. J. Kenneth Blackwell
Policy Board Member
American Civil Rights Union
Hon. Bob McEwen
U.S. House of Representatives
Former Member, Ohio
Hon. Becky Norton Dunlop
Chairman, Conservative Action Project (CAP)
Former White House Advisor, President Ronald Reagan
L. Brent Bozell, III
Chairman
ForAmerica
William L. Walton
Vice President
Council for National Policy
Rod D. Martin
Founder and CEO
The Martin Organization
Sherri R. Martin
The Martin Foundation
Nicholas Stehle
Campaign for the American Future
Hon. David McIntosh
Former Member of Congress
Kelly Shackelford, Esq.
President, CEO and Chief Counsel
Liberty Institute
Ellen L. Barrosse
Chairman
Conservative Steering Committee
Republican National Committee
Brian Brown
President
National Organization for Marriage
Frank Schubert
President
Mission Public Affairs, LLC
Floyd Brown
President
Western Center for Journalism
Bob Adams
President
Revive America PAC
Linwood Bragan
Executive Director
CapStand Council for Policy and Ethics
Rick Scarborough
President
Vision America Action
Michael Farris, JD, LLM
Ted Baehr
Publisher, MOVIEGUIDE(R)
Member, Broadcast Film Critics Association
Seton Motley
President
Less Government
Ali Akbar
Senior Advisor
Black Conservatives Fund
Dan Weber
CEO
Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC)
Hon. Sharron Angle
President
National Federation of Republican Assemblies
Dr. Shawn A. Mitchell
National Chaplain
National Federation of Republican Assemblies
Hon. Jerry Melvin
President
Florida Republican Assembly
Jim Backlin
Christian Coalition of America
Ron Robinson
President
Young America’s Foundation
Kristin Fecteau
Co-Founder
Campaign to Free America
Gary L. Bauer
President
American Values
Carrie Severino
Chief Counsel and Policy Director
Judicial Crisis Network
Gary Marx
Former Executive Director and Board Member
Judicial Crisis Network
Phillip L. Jauregui
President
Judicial Action Group
Raymond J. LaJeunesse, Jr.
Vice President & Legal Director
National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation
Richard A. Viguerie
Chairman
ConservativeHQ.com
Ron Pearson
Executive Director
Conservative Victory Fund
Curt Levey
President
The Committee for Justice
Marjorie Dannenfelser
President
Susan B. Anthony List
Alfred S. Regnery
Chairman
Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund
The Honorable T. Kenneth Cribb, Jr.
Former Domestic Advisor
President Ronald Reagan
Michael Grebe
President and CEO
The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation
Jay Mount
President
MDS Communications
Lee A. Beaman
Owner/CEO
Beaman Automotive Group
James C. Miller III
Former OMB Director
President Ronald Reagan
John C. Eastman
Senior Fellow
The Claremont Institute
Col. Clifton P. Schroeder, USMC Retired
Member, Council For National Policy
Ralph Benko
Chairman
Center for Civic Virtue
Quin Hillyer
Veteran Conservative Columnist
Willes K. Lee
Executive Vice President
National Federation of Republican Assemblies
Christopher N. Malagisi
President
Young Conservatives Coalition
Richard D. Hayes
Partner
Hayes, Berry, White & Vanzant, LLP
Kevin Kookogey
President & Founder
Linchpins of Liberty
Joseph A. Morris
Morris & De La Rosa
Elaine Donnelly
President
Center for Military Readiness
Judson Phillips
Founder
Tea Party Nation
C. Preston Noell III
President
Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.
Mike Spence
President
Conservative Republicans of California
Alex St. James
Executive Director
Blacks Economic-Security Trust (BEST) Foundation
Andresen Blom
Executive Director
Grassroot Hawaii Action
Larry Cirignano
DC Representative
Children First Foundation
Matt Schlapp
Chairman
The American Conservative Union
Dan Schneider
Executive Director
The American Conservative Union
Tom McClusky
Vice President
March for Life Action
Hon. Donald J. Devine
Former Director, U.S. Office of Personnel Management
Senior Scholar, The Fund for American Studies
Mario H. Lopez
President
Hispanic Leadership Fund
Herman Cain
President & C.E.O.
www.hermancain.com
Gina Gleason
Executive Director
Faith and Public Policy
George Landrith
President
Frontiers of Freedom
All organizations listed for identification purposes only.
The Conservative Action Project, founded by former Attorney General Edwin Meese and chaired by The Honorable Becky Norton Dunlop, is designed to facilitate conservative leaders working together on behalf of common goals. Participants include the CEO’s of over 100 organizations representing all major elements of the conservative movement: economic, social and national security.
Rod is one of our nation’s leading minds. He’s smart, original, and very committed—a combination that one rarely finds.
Rod Martin and [former Howard Dean campaign manager] Joe Trippi are America’s two foremost experts on online politics.
Rod Martin is a Reaganite-Thatcherite conservative…[and] a man who has spent much of his life ministering to and working for the benefit of others. I know Rod as an advocate for freedom, a leader who understands the real changes we need in Washington, and who has the drive and ability to make those changes happen.
Rod Martin is the kind of dynamic leader who has the knowledge, ability and experience to lead us successfully into the 21st Century. His vision for America is compelling.
Rod Martin literally wrote the book on excellence. Humble yet brilliant, a man of love and compassion, with penetrating clarity he illuminates the world around us, and we are both stirred and enlightened.
Rod Martin is a born leader and an outstanding political mind. Anyone who takes him on is going to have a serious fight on their hands.
Rod Martin is a man of uncommon vision and character. Ever since I first worked alongside Rod in the early days of PayPal, I’ve been struck by his powerful vision for the future. Rod understands the intersection of technology, politics and culture in a way that few others do.
Rod Martin wears with uncommon grace an uncanny ability to link his vigorous faith to the practical challenges of both the business world and the political arena. Yet the respect he shows for others carries a warmth and modesty that are both too rare among those who are strong advocates of feisty positions.
America badly needs more leaders who really get the future. We need more Rod Martins.
Rod Martin is a modern day philosopher-statesman. He is a capitalist intellectual, a conservative iconoclast, a gentle adversary and a kind prophet. He inspires us towards a fresh national vision built upon the original founding principles.
Rod Martin is not only effective and efficient, but he is also perceptive, wise and gracious. He gets things done. He is a great friend and a great ally.
Rod is one of the sharpest, most gracious men I know, and one of the most gifted political thinkers today. His ability to analyze issues and communicate thoughtful insights on them have earned him the respect of people across the political spectrum.
I am proud to have been Rod Martin’s friend for a quarter century, and I can tell you that he is one of the finest men and most outstanding leaders in our church and in our country today. He has a knack for turning everything he touches to success.
Rod Martin is a cornucopian entrepreneur and eutropic thinker whose influence radiates through an array of companies, institutions, movements and churches. A renaissance American, he is also a prolific friend of freedom and faith around the globe.
If Rod Martin represents the next generation of leaders, America has nothing to worry about.
A leader and a servant, in public life and in private, Rod Martin strides at the top of his profession, and has nowhere to go but up. He is in the truest sense of the word ‘outstanding’.
Rod Martin is undoubtedly one of the most accomplished thought leaders today. He is a wonderful mentor, a humble role model, and a deep inspiration for the next generation of scientific innovators and entrepreneurs.
Rod’s achievements pale beside his character and his brilliance. He sees what others can’t. He leads when others won’t.
Rod Martin is one of America’s finest young minds.
