Tag: Judicial

Tues 2/11: Judges matter. Call your senators! Brasher is up today!

There’s struggle on this one – call now!

“This is an unacceptable threat to our democracy as we know it,” said Lisa Rovinsky, who serves as advocacy chairwoman for the Atlanta branch of the National Council of Jewish Women…

…The groups opposing Brasher point to a brief he wrote as part of a lawsuit that ultimately led to a rollback of the Voting Rights Act, and they say that in another case he defended an Arizona law that required people to submit proof of citizenship before registering to vote.”

If they can get him through, Senate will turn to the these nominations, which include at least two Federalist Society members, and one, Joshua Kindred, who has a terrible environmental record. 

Andrew Brasher, a rightwing extremist, is up for a lifetime judicial seat in the 11th Circuit Court. Call your senators!

Senator Kamala Harris’ video statement here.

The non-trial is over and McConnell isn’t wasting any time.  He’s only guaranteed until November to turn the judicial branch into a extremist right-wing rubber-stamp for Trump’s policies.  At the beginning of Trump’s reign, lawyers told us that we shouldn’t worry about young extremist Trump-udges, that essentially they would fall in line with the years of precedent that was slowly moving America towards a more just nation. Um, no. Even before Trump, there were huge setbacks, such as 2010’s Citizens United v. FEC, and in 2013, parts of the Voting Right Act (Shelby v. Holder). Now the march back to the 1950’s has accelerated, as these new judges are pushing off the guardrails and starting to deliver on their destructive potential. (See “Deep Dive” below)

Per the Hill, the Senate is expected to take its first procedural vote on the slate Monday evening, on Andrew Brasher’s nomination to be a judge on the 11th Circuit, the court that oversees federal cases originating in the states of Alabama, Florida and Georgia. 

Andrew Brasher is so disturbingly extreme that his confirmation has been opposed by the Leadership Conference on Civil & Human rights. Alliance for Justice, The National Council of Jewish Women, the AFL-CIO, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, The League of Conservation Voters, People for the American Way, Lamba Legal, National Urban League, and NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Call your senators and contact your family/friends groups to contact theirs, especially those with GOP senators.

Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want to thank Sen [___] for opposing the confirmation of Andrew Brasher, whose extremist views are in direct conflict with the interests and rights of the population he serves. Also thanks for opposing the nomination of Joshua Kindred. Continue reading “Tues 2/11: Judges matter. Call your senators! Brasher is up today!” →

Fri 2/7: Judges matter. Call your senators!

Andrew Brasher, a rightwing extremist, is up for a lifetime judicial seat in the 11th Circuit Court. Call your senators!

Senator Kamala Harris’ video statement here.

The non-trial is over and McConnell isn’t wasting any time.  He’s only guaranteed until November to turn the judicial branch into a extremist right-wing rubber-stamp for Trump’s policies.  At the beginning of Trump’s reign, lawyers told us that we shouldn’t worry about young extremist Trump-udges, that essentially they would fall in line with the years of precedent that was slowly moving America towards a more just nation. Um, no. Even before Trump, there were huge setbacks, such as 2010’s Citizens United v. FEC, and in 2013, parts of the Voting Right Act (Shelby v. Holder). Now the march back to the 1950’s has accelerated, as these new judges are pushing off the guardrails and starting to deliver on their destructive potential. (See “Deep Dive” below)

Per the Hill, the Senate is expected to take its first procedural vote on the slate Monday evening, on Andrew Brasher’s nomination to be a judge on the 11th Circuit, the court that oversees federal cases originating in the states of Alabama, Florida and Georgia. 

Andrew Brasher is so disturbingly extreme that his confirmation has been opposed by the Leadership Conference on Civil & Human rights. Alliance for Justice, The National Council of Jewish Women, the AFL-CIO, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, The League of Conservation Voters, People for the American Way, Lamba Legal, National Urban League, and NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Call your senators and contact your family/friends groups to contact theirs, especially those with GOP senators.

Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want to thank Sen [___] for opposing the confirmation of Andrew Brasher, whose extremist views are in direct conflict with the interests and rights of the population he serves. Continue reading “Fri 2/7: Judges matter. Call your senators!” →

Mon – 6/11: “Mr. President…there’s someone from the UN human rights office out in the hall…”

(Update: We are repeating this action from Friday to add in Senator Feinstein’s new bill. If you’re in her district, thank her. If you’re not, please call your senator to support it. If you haven’t made the calls listed below yet, please do so today. These are literally the most effective daily acts of resistance you can make.)

Update: Join us on June 14th, between 4 pm and 6 pm at the corner of the County Government Center for a Families Belong Together rally. More information here.  

On this day, thousands of people across the US will join marches, rallies, and vigils to protest the administration’s cruel and inhumane treatment of immigrants and asylum seekers.  If you’re not in Ventura, go here for the nearest rally or march.  There’s one in Carpinteria, and one in LA.

We do not have a good history of dealing with immigrants’ children. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reported that earlier waves of unaccompanied minors were subjected to “a pattern of intimidation, harassment, physical abuse, refusal of medical services, and improper deportation” by the US Customs and Border Patrol between 2009 and 2014 . However, since there wasn’t a lot of photographic evidence at the time, the public hadn’t understood exactly what was being done in our name.

We can’t pretend not to see what’s happening anymore. The Trump administration has supersized our problem right onto the front page by tearing kids from their sobbing mothers on film. Senator Merkley then poked the wasp nest by making a highly publicized field trip to a Southwest Key Program shelter in Brownsville, TX. Originally for unaccompanied minors, the shelter now houses kids separated from their parents who were seeking asylum at our border. (wapo) (newsweek) (slate)  We believe this video has gone viral because, even without seeing the actual interior conditions, aspects of his visit made us uneasy.

Continue reading “Mon – 6/11: “Mr. President…there’s someone from the UN human rights office out in the hall…”” →

Fri – 6/8: “Mr. President…there’s someone from the UN human rights office out in the hall…”

We do not have a good history of dealing with immigrants’ children. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reported that earlier waves of unaccompanied minors were subjected to “a pattern of intimidation, harassment, physical abuse, refusal of medical services, and improper deportation” by the US Customs and Border Patrol between 2009 and 2014 . However, since there wasn’t a lot of photographic evidence at the time, the public hadn’t understood exactly what was being done in our name.

We can’t pretend not to see what’s happening anymore. The Trump administration has supersized our problem right onto the front page by tearing kids from their sobbing mothers on film. Senator Merkley then poked the wasp nest by making a highly publicized field trip to a Southwest Key Program shelter in Brownsville, TX. Originally for unaccompanied minors, the shelter now houses kids separated from their parents who were seeking asylum at our border. (wapo) (newsweek) (slate)  We believe this video has gone viral because, even without seeing the actual interior conditions, aspects of his visit made us uneasy.

Continue reading “Fri – 6/8: “Mr. President…there’s someone from the UN human rights office out in the hall…”” →

Wed. – 5/2 This Koch-ster is coming up for a full Senate vote. Brevent Brennan from getting a lifetime seat at our expense!

Michael Brennan is coming up for a full Senate vote this coming for a potential lifetime appointment on the federal bench.

This comes despite the fact that Wisconsin’s Democratic senator, Tammy Baldwin, refused to turn in a blue slip for him due to his hard-right opinions.

(AFJ.org) “Brennan’s record and writings indicate that he holds a singularly troubling belief: that conservative judges should not follow precedents they disagree with. He has celebrated Supreme Court decisions that have weakened civil rights, and encouraged conservative judges to be more vigorous in overturning acts of Congress. He has called for unchecked executive power and sought to weaken rights of criminal defendants.”

Withholding a blue slip usually means the end of a nomination, but, as Baldwin noted in a letter earlier this year,  “President Trump’s nomination of Mr. Brennan disregards the longstanding, bipartisan process in Wisconsin that has informed the selection of federal judges in my state,” Baldwin said. “This is a particularly troubling step at a time when institutions and traditions of democracy seem under constant attack, and bipartisanship feels like a fading concept.”

But, Senator Baldwin, he’s got something much better than a blue slip from you…

He has heavy backing from the Koch brothers , the far-right corporatists that helped engineer the dark-money campaign behind the Neil Gorsuch Supreme Court campaign. At Brennan’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, he couldn’t even acknowledge fact-based racial bias in the justice system.

YAY! Just what we need in a judge. Someone for whom facts have no meaning when compared to the interests of those he longs to serve. Continue reading “Wed. – 5/2 This Koch-ster is coming up for a full Senate vote. Brevent Brennan from getting a lifetime seat at our expense!” →

Fight the right-wing extremist takeover of our courts. It’s happening this week!

 Minimal script: I’m calling from [zip code] to ask Sen. [___] to vote NO on the judicial nominations of Amy Coney Barrett, Allison Eid, Stephanos Bibas, and Joan Larson.

More script if you want it: The judicial branch is our last defense against extremism from both the executive and legislative branches. Instead of protecting us, however, these nominees will rule against the civil rights of women, LGBTQ communities, immigrants, minorities, as well as other issues such as the environment and public access.

Senator Feinstein: DC (202) 224-3841, LA (310) 914-7300, SF (415) 393-0707, SD (619) 231-9712, Fresno (559) 485-7430

Senator Harris: DC (202) 224-3553, LA (213) 894-5000, SAC (916) 448-2787, Fresno (559) 497-5109, SF (415) 355-9041, SD (619) 239-3884

Other Senator Contacts: http://www.phoneyourrep.com

More info:

Continue reading “Fight the right-wing extremist takeover of our courts. It’s happening this week!” →

Radical extremists in black robes. Call to stop them.

Reject Ideologues for the Federal Bench
Minimal script: I’m calling from zip code […..] to urge Senator Harris/Feinstein to reject ALL 50 of Trump’s picks for the Federal bench. Without exception, each of these nominees is an unqualified, right-wing extremist.

Senator Feinstein: DC (202) 224-3841, LA (310) 914-7300, SF (415) 393-0707, SD (619) 231-9712, Fresno (559) 485-7430
Senator Harris: DC (202) 224-3553, LA (213) 894-5000, SAC (916) 448-2787, Fresno (559) 497-5109, SF (415) 355-9041, SD (619) 239-3884

Other Senator Contacts: http://www.phoneyourrep.com

More Info: 

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/17/trump-judges-nominees-court-picks-243834
https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/10/19/16504104/trump-jeff-mateer-lgbtq

Short read (from Rogan’s List)

Politico tell us that “Trump has nominated 50 candidates to lifetime appointments to the federal bench — including a man who asserted transgender children were evidence of “Satan’s plan,” one deemed unqualified by the American Bar Association and a handful of prolific bloggers. No Republican senator has voted against Trump’s judicial nominees so far this year, either in committee or in confirmation votes on the floor. They are planning to pick up the pace even more in the coming months.”  Here are three (3) egregious nominations that Democrats are trying to derail: 1) Jeff Mateer, nominated to a federal

Continue reading “Radical extremists in black robes. Call to stop them.” →

OMG! – “NO!” on Allison Eid for Tenth Circuit Court. She’s on the calendar for Wednesday, so call today!

Our newest Supreme Court justice and dark-money darling, Neil Gorsuch, a fellow Coloradan, favors this judicial nominee. Is it something in the water?

Script: I’m calling to ask Sen. [___] to vote NO on the confirmation of Allison Eid of the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.

Additional script if you want: She is a hard-right jurist who has worked to undermine campaign finance laws, funding for public schools, collective bargaining rights for teacher and unions trying to engage in the democratic process. Eid supported corporations’ long-term efforts to make it more difficult for consumers to hold businesses accountable would have allowed a private company to use eminent domain to build a petroleum pipeline. She celebrated cases striking down the ban on guns in school zones and invalidating parts of the Violence Against Women Act. If corporations were ACTUALLY people, she’d be great, but she not an appropriate choice for the rest of us.

Senator Feinstein: DC (202) 224-3841, LA (310) 914-7300, SF (415) 393-0707, SD (619) 231-9712, Fresno (559) 485-7430

Senator Harris: DC (202) 224-3553, LA (213) 894-5000, SAC (916) 448-2787, Fresno (559) 497-5109, SF (415) 355-9041, SD (619) 239-3884

Other Senator Contacts: http://www.phoneyourrep.com

More Info:

Continue reading “OMG! – “NO!” on Allison Eid for Tenth Circuit Court. She’s on the calendar for Wednesday, so call today!” →

Thu 8/17 – Fri 8/18 – The ground beneath our feet.

There are so many pressing issues for the Resistance to concentrate on…

Where to start?… immigration limits, discrimination against Muslim Americans and their families, the environment including climate change, clean air and water, toxic chemicals, the protection of drilling/mining/logging interests, the removal of science-based information, DACA & Dreamers, the border wall, status of our economic refugees, the border wall with its environmental and human costs, the preservation of our national monuments and wildlife sanctuaries, the protection of the Endangered Species Act, the eminent defunding and breakup of our school system, predatory loans against students, and banking practices against consumers, the suppression of voting rights and threats of “investigation” for illegal voting, civil rights for all minorities, women’s rights to for bodily autonomy and equal pay, LGBTQ rights for equal access, corporate and presidential overreach, prisoner and arrestee rights, threats to the privacy of “resisters”, destruction of our health insurance system along with the rest of social safety net including Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security…more than we can list…

Our president has unleashed his pack of political scavengers and corporate predators  upon us. They will take all they can and pick us clean, affecting almost every aspect of our lives.

Can anyone stop him? Continue reading “Thu 8/17 – Fri 8/18 – The ground beneath our feet.” →