Friends,
Things are moving fast. But one thing should slow way down, and that’s the Supreme Court seat.
Dawn and I have been a team for three decades, and she inspires me every day. This month I want to share her message recently published in Slate: Johnsen on Sup Ct
Remember that almost exactly a year ago, within the hour after the sudden, unexpected death of Justice Scalia was confirmed – when everyone else was sending condolences to the family – Senate Republican leader McConnell declared they would not fill the seat until 2017. It was unprecedented. It was a hijacking of the federal government and blatantly anti-constitutional. It showed flagrant disrespect to President Obama and all who voted for him. I didn’t think it would stand. But it did.
Dawn reminds us that “When political actors conspire to distort the makeup of the court, as they did in denying President Obama his basic constitutional role, we the people must demand that the balance be restored.”
So I stand with Dawn and urge the Senate to confirm no Supreme Court Justice until Merrick Garland is confirmed. This isn’t Trump’s seat to fill.
Please read Dawn’s column. And remember that these political battles matter. The decisions of the Supreme Court directly affect millions of lives – basic, daily things like who gets health care, or reproductive rights, or criminal justice, or who can buy a candidate, or who gets to marry, or who can the federal government protect, or who stops an autocratic government from overreaching—including a President who imposes an anti-Muslim ban on who may enter our country?
The Republican Senate stole a Supreme Court seat from the American voters who elected President Obama. That’s us. And we shouldn’t take fundamental larcenies like that lying down. Nor should today’s Senators.
Thanks Dawn. And thanks for all you all do working to make this community, country and world, more progressive, fair, just and safe.
Democratically yours,
John