Tag: Judicial Nominees

Fri – 10/18: “Not qualified”… That should be enough in normal times. Note: We are no longer in normal times. Say “NO” to Justin Walker.

Quote from Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)

Action #1 – Call your senators and tell them to vote “NO” on Justin Walker.

While we’ve been transfixed in horror by the clown car of Ukraine corruption, and now the bloody results of using Syria as a deliberate distraction from the impeachment inquiry, Mitch McConnell has been laser-focused on the prize. Instead of dealing with the huge stack of legislation piling up from the House, he has been locking in hard-right ideologues for the judicial bench who will pervert American justice far into the future, no matter who becomes president. Since Trump has come to power, McConnell has managed to ram through a least four LIFETIME federal judges who were rated “not qualified by the non-partisan American Bar Association (ABA) Continue reading “Fri – 10/18: “Not qualified”… That should be enough in normal times. Note: We are no longer in normal times. Say “NO” to Justin Walker.” →

Wed. 9/25: Vote “NO” on “pay-no-attention-to-anything-I-wrote-or-did” guy. Vote may be tomorrow!

Action: Tell your senators that Steven Menashi is not welcome on our highest courts.

President Trump announced his intent to nominate Steven Menashi to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals for the seat previously held by Thurgood Marshall, and most immediately held by Judge Dennis Jacobs. He was unpopular inside and outside his nomination hearing. This guy was not even supported by his home-state senators from NY.

Continue reading “Wed. 9/25: Vote “NO” on “pay-no-attention-to-anything-I-wrote-or-did” guy. Vote may be tomorrow!” →

Mon 5/20: Urgent – Remind your senators that Daniel P. Collins should not be a judge.

Action – Trump really wants to destroy OUR court, the Ninth Circuit. Thank our senators for their dissent and get people with other senators to call!

The Senate is in at 3 PM with a 5:30 PM vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the nomination of Daniel P. Collins to be United States Circuit Judge for the Ninth Circuit.

Collins’ bio on the Munger, Tolles & Olson website highlights his history representing Big Oil in climate cases: “Mr. Collins also successfully argued two major cases in the Fifth and Ninth Circuits that effectively brought an end (for the time being) to efforts to hold the energy industry liable in tort for injuries allegedly caused by global warming.”

image.pngDaniel P. Collins, a former associate deputy U.S. attorney general specializes in defending the oil industry in high-profile climate and environmental cases, including the current crop of climate liability lawsuits. One of his clients Royal Dutch Shell, is among the companies being sued by a group of California communities trying to hold oil companies accountable for climate change-related damages. Certain aspects of those lawsuits are already being appealed to the Ninth Circuit, which covers California, the Pacific Northwest as well as Alaska and Hawaii.

We think we’ve already bagged our limit on corporate shills. Continue reading “Mon 5/20: Urgent – Remind your senators that Daniel P. Collins should not be a judge.” →

Mon 4/1: No, this is not a joke! The GOP wants to make fools into judges in two hours or less.

What’s old is new again…!

Action: Tell your senators to vote “NO” on S.Res. 50. 

The full title of the GOP’s S.Res.50 – “A resolution improving procedures for the consideration of nominations in the Senate.” is almost longer than the resolution itself, In the GOP’s haste to pack our courts, they want to truncate nomination deliberations from 30 hours to two. This is certainly more convenient for senators, but they get paid to protect us, so bring a cushion, snowflakes! The bill’s text doesn’t even bother to justify how rushing through inappropriate candidates for extremely powerful positions would be an improvement for us, the people.

Actually, after reading the short bios of the three nominees below, an actual improvement might be to expand hearings from 30 to 40 hours, – better to root out and expose the extremists, the ideologues, the unqualified and the incompetents that clog the GOP’s wish lists.

Minimal Script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want Sen. [___] to vote “NO” on S.Res. 50 and strenously object to this disintegration of our court system. I also want her to vote “NO” on nominees Collins, Bress and Lee as being inappropriate additions to our justice system. Continue reading “Mon 4/1: No, this is not a joke! The GOP wants to make fools into judges in two hours or less.” →

Mon – 3/4: Rushing is up! Ask all your red state F&F’s to call their senators!

Action #1 – These are so close, the right-wing can taste it…

(Specific information about nominees in BOLD type.)

(from the Senate Calendar for Monday). “The Senate stands adjourned until 3:00pm on Monday, March 4, 2019 …the Senate will resume consideration of Executive Calendar #15, Allison Jones Rushing, of North Carolina, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Fourth Circuit.” (Fast read here from the Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights here) Continue reading “Mon – 3/4: Rushing is up! Ask all your red state F&F’s to call their senators!” →

Fri – 3/1: Fast Friday actions – Here come the right-wing judges!

Action #1 – These are so close, the right-wing can taste it…

(Specific information about nominees in BOLD type.)

(from the Senate Calendar for Monday). “The Senate stands adjourned until 3:00pm on Monday, March 4, 2019 …the Senate will resume consideration of Executive Calendar #15, Allison Jones Rushing, of North Carolina, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Fourth Circuit.” Continue reading “Fri – 3/1: Fast Friday actions – Here come the right-wing judges!” →

Thurs – 12/6: Another wolf in a lawyer’s clothing…Vote “NO” for unqualified and extreme judicial nominee Kobes.

Action # – Vote “NO” on “Not Qualified” judicial nominee  Jonathan A. Kobes to the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

“Not Qualified”… How in a properly function democracy did this man make it to a floor vote of the full Senate? The American Bar association stated that he wasn’t qualified to be a judge. “Mr. Kobes has neither the requisite experience nor evidence of his ability to fulfill the scholarly writing required of a United States Circuit Court Judge…and was unable to provide sufficient writing samples of the caliber required to satisfy Committee members that he was capable of doing the work of a United States Circuit Court Judge.” Continue reading “Thurs – 12/6: Another wolf in a lawyer’s clothing…Vote “NO” for unqualified and extreme judicial nominee Kobes.” →

Thurs – 11/29: Vote postponed! Let’s use this unexpected gift wisely.

Update! Sen. Tim Scott says “NO”! Farr’s nomination is done (for now…)

Scott based his decision on a recently obtained 1991 Department of Justice memo , which delineated Farr’s involvement in “ballot security” postcard mailings that targeted minority voters in both the 1984 and 1990 campaigns of then-Sen. Jesse Helms, (R-NC). The memo contradicted Farr’s denial to Sen. Feinstein at his nomination hearing that he hadn’t consulted with the campaign in 1990 on this issue and detailed his primary coordination role in the 1984 “ballot security” postcard program designed to challenge black voters at the polls.

Trump would have to renominate Farr in 2019 for him to be considered again. However, Republicans will hold a 53-47 edge in the Senate beginning in January, so we may see this guy again…Go ahead and tell your GOP senators that we expect them to do better than this.

Just in!:

The vote was scheduled for noon today, but shortly after 11 a.m., it was moved to next week due to the absence of Sen. James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican. This indicates that Mitch McConnell has calculated that there is little or no margin for error.

Let’s give ol’ Mitch a holiday surprise! Stand indivisible with the NAACP, Repairers of the Breach, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, Alliance for Justice, People for the American Way and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

Action – LIGHT UP GOP SENATORS’ PHONE LINES! Network with friends and family in GOP states to stop Thomas Farr’s nomination!

Continue reading “Thurs – 11/29: Vote postponed! Let’s use this unexpected gift wisely.” →

Wed – 11/28: Stand up for our basic civil rights! Contact your relatives in GOP states and make them call about this guy.

#1 – Evening Action – Make this call to YOUR FRIENDS & RELATIVES –  “NO” on Thomas Farr for US District Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Continue reading “Wed – 11/28: Stand up for our basic civil rights! Contact your relatives in GOP states and make them call about this guy.” →

Tues – 11/27: It’s a busy day! Here’s your action prescription.

Here’s the synopsis of today’s actions. Do as much as you can. (More details below.)

  1. First thing – Call your legislators on horrible judge pick Thomas Farr
  2. Go to the Fairgrounds to protest gun shows
  3. Sign a petition against gun shows
  4. Email the Country Fair Board
  5. Go to the Oxnard City Council meeting tonight. Police Chief Whitney is presenting  a temporary moratorium on new firearms and ammunition retailers.

#1 – Morning Coffee Action – Make this call – “NO” on Thomas Farr for US District Judge for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

image.png

Continue reading “Tues – 11/27: It’s a busy day! Here’s your action prescription.” →