Take action on Supreme Court Nomination
Time to put the pressure on! Now that we’ve lost an important moderate swing vote in Sandra Day O’Connor, we have to make sure that a right-wing ideologue doesn’t take her place. A meaningful candidate, qualified for the job and acceptable to both sides of the aisle would go a long way toward protecting our liberty, rights, environment, choices, and all the rest while protecting us against the ongoing dismantlement of our representative democracy. Surely we deserve someone who will be fair on all issues. The Supreme Court is the last word of authority on the interpretation of the Constitution – this body is a very important check and balance against tyranny of all kinds. To stock it with corrupted persons would be a disaster for the American people. The right-wing likes to invoke the term “judicial activism” – but you only need to look at some of their top people to understand why they need to project that image against liberals.
“They want the federal government controlling Social Security like it’s some kind of federal program.” – George W. Bush in a debate in St. Charles, Mo., Nov. 2, 2000
Call and write your senators as often as you can – be sure always to be respectful and calm. You can email them using this banner, but telephoning or writing an actual letter seems to be the preferred form of action.
Please sign on to any of these that you agree with:
The President and Republican leaders have a choice: choose a battle that divides America, or seek a middle ground with a nominee we all can trust to fairly interpret and uphold the Constitution and the law. Let the Senators who will make this important decision know that America doesn’t want us to rubber stamp the President’s nominee
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/norubberstamps
This is an extremely important time for our senators to hear from us. They need to know that we are counting on them to stand up to President Bush and protect our rights — because with a moderate like O’Connor stepping down and a far-right like Bush making the nomination, well, the stakes couldn’t be higher. MoveOn PAC has started an emergency petition, and we’re looking to get 250,000 signatures and comments to the Senate before Tuesday — which is when rumor has it Bush will announce his nomination.
Please sign the petition urging President Bush to nominate a consensus candidate that will unite and not divide Americans. Our nation has been polarized, and we have gone on record urging a different direction, but we will be prepared to fight if necessary.
As Texas governor, George W. Bush demonstrated that he doesn’t require legal skills for a judicial nominees. His only requirement was that judges share his anti-abortion, pro-corporation ideology. Many of his nominations to the federal bench seem to have followed the same pattern. The character and record of anyone nominated to our nation’s highest court must be thoroughly reviewed and considered by the Senate in their important “advice and consent” role. The Senate must be certain the nominee can discern between personal conviction and interpretation of the law as they balance the interpretation of our Constitution and our democracy’s promise to protect and expand the civil liberties of all people, not just the privileged few. Please contact your Senators immediately and urge them to oppose any nominee to fill Justice O’Connor’s vacancy who would overturn Roe v. Wade or limit the civil and human rights of any group of people.
http://www.now.org/index.html – for home page of now.org
http://capwiz.com/now/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=7770896 – to contact your senators through their system
Now that President Bush has the power to appoint an anti-choice justice to the Supreme Court, we are just one vote away from the end of Roe v. Wade, one vote away from the end of your right to choose. We deserve to know where nominees to the Supreme Court stand on such core mainstream values as privacy, personal freedom, and a woman’s right to choose. The stakes are simply too high to gamble on a nominee who refuses to reveal his or her stand on important constitutional issues. We must be able to count on judges to protect our constitutionally guaranteed freedoms and respect individual rights. Ask your Senators to ask tough questions during the confirmation process to ensure that the next Supreme Court justice can do just that.
http://prochoiceaction.org/campaign/choose_justice?
Another worthwhile petition to sign is the one to support the idea that our representatives should have to actually read the bills before they vote on them. Makes sense, eh?
I urge you to ask your representatives to please sponsor DownsizeDC.org’s “Read the Bills Act of 2005” (RTBA).
I am sure there are other petitions, actions, and so on. Feel free to add more in the comments – but don’t bother adding anything that supports getting rid of public education, equal rights, choice, destroying the environment and the like. I have no patience with it today.