This is the most important moment of activism we have faced since Nov 2016.
The courts, the Supreme Court in particular, are dramatically shaped by whoever sits in Oval Office and our Members of Congress.
Tipping the courts away from the rights of the people have and will forever change the experience of being an American.
With Gorsuch on the bench, we’re watching the erosion of civil protections for marginalized people, voter rights and laborers.
We know the danger of a conservative court. We know first hand the devastation of Citizens United, which gave corporations have the right to pollute our elections financially. Elections are the most financially wasteful expression of Americanism.
And, we know the value of a humanly oriented court.
I will forever remember the power of the waking up on the morning of June 26, 2015 to the 5-4 vote legalizing my right to marry. I still cry each time I remember that moment of release and the oppression of marginalization lifted.
Just imagine the rawness in the rulings for Roe v Wade, Brown v. Board of Education and Loving v. Virginia.
Mitch McConnell and the GOP changed the rules. They blocked Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland. They set the precedent of no vote on a justice in an election year.
While there were specifically referring to a Presidential election, we are in an election year. In four months, the citizens of our country will elect our Members of Congress and as vile as that rule change was, WE CANNOT HAVE A VOTE ON A NOMINEE UNTIL THE PEOPLE VOTE.
All 49 Democratic Senators must hold steady – West Virginia and North Dakota will be hard pressed to sway because of the demographics of their States. We need 1 Republican to recognize the value in human life. Who will have the integrity to stand with the people?
A trump nominee will permeate our country for the next 40 years. If the GOP is allowed to push through a judge who cares not about the rights of people, many of us may not be alive to see the tipping back towards humanity.
Yet, even in this devastating news, even with each daily blow, I remain hopeful. I believe we are in this chaos as an invitation to rise together, rise united in our values of the safety, protection and opportunities for all Americans.
Our role in this moment is the express the deepest compassion for all people and do everything you have the power, the energy, the fortitude to do to make sure that all people are free.
We must make our communities stronger, our country more united and our world more peaceful. This is the invitation.
Together we are stronger and together we matter.
TODAY’S EASY ACTIVISM.
1. Call your Senators and tell them no vote until the people have voted.
2. Then call the Republicans who could swing - Bob Corker. Jeff Flake. Susan Collins. Lisa Murkowski. Call them at (202) 224-3121. Tell them you don’t want a vote on the next Supreme Court Justice until after the midterms, following the McConnell rule of election year confirmations.
3. Nothing matters more than VOTING! Talk to everybody you see about the importance of voting. Ask them if they are registered. Point them to how to register if they’re not. Tell them what's at stake.
36% of Americans voted in 2014 midterms. This is why we have McConnell and the other greed mongers.
We can do this. We are a good people. We value the same things. Let’s get to work! We don’t have a moment to lose.
With love and gratitude –
:: Genessa