Tell your Senators to Filibuster Alito...Or Don't Bother Running for Re-Election.
When they surrendered on the original filibuster confrontation without a fight they told us they were "saving our ammunition." Strike one.
When they waved Roberts through without demanding access to any of his records for the last 20 years they told us they were "keeping our powder dry." Strike two.
Don't DARE try to tell us that now rubberstamping the most radical jurist on the appellate bench is yet more "picking our battles."
A number of senators in the last couple days have made statements to the effect they did not hear anything at Alito's confirmation hearing that would make them vote against him. Of course not, because he did not actually say ANYTHING!
Alito is on the record stating that he believes in a dictatorial model of the president and that a woman's private decisions are up for grabs. He lied about his position on the former and categorically refused to repudiate the later. Robert Bork himself stated the other day he believes conclusively that Alito still holds that view. THAT is the evidence to filibuster Alito, not what he might have evaded saying at his hearing.This is our litmus test. If our senators will not protect us from this constitutional outrage, we call for each and every one to be defeated in their next election. We call for candidates to arise in their own primaries if necessary to punish them for their cowardice and their complicity. If putting their own job on the line is not a circumstance "extraordinary" enough for them we don't know what is.
The one click form on this page will send your personal message to both your Senators, with the subject "Filibuster the Alito nomination."
At the same time you can send your personal comments only as a letter to the editor of your nearest local daily newspaper if you like. Please also follow up with phone calls on the tollfree numbers 888-818-6641 and 888-355-3588, or you can get all their direct dial numbers and fax numbers with the instant lookup in the right column of this page.
NEED REASONS?
- A Court Seat for Privilege ...
Derrick Z. Jackson
t r u t h o u t "Amazing amnesia. How sweet the white privilege. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." Right on time for the King holiday, America is elevating yet another man to lifetime power on the claim of sincere ignorance of his association with racism and sexism."
- Filibuster Bush, Impeach Alito
Paul Rogat Loeb
t r u t h o u t ...suppose the Democrats started debating the nomination, and didn't stop, in the process addressing the real roots of why Alito would be so destructive. They could read from articles and books about this administration's abuse of presidential power. They could talk about whether we really want government officials to be able to strip us of our rights at will, listen in on our phone and email conversations without a court order, and infiltrate the citizen groups through which we gather peacefully to express our beliefs. They could talk about the choices women were forced to make when abortion was illegal, what it's like to be discriminated against, then told you don't meet an impossible burden of proof, and whether police should be able to shoot unarmed 15-year-olds who flee after stealing $10. They could talk about the Sago mine disaster, and the fruits of a politics where unions are busted and regulations gutted at every turn. They could tell the stories that bring seemingly abstract issues of jurisdiction and constitutional interpretation to life, and make clear their real-world consequences.
In the process they could remind America that this president, with this track record of lies, deceptions, and favors for the most destructive private interests, deserves no presumption of deference. And that when he nominates someone, like Alito, who will only further his abuses of power, Senators have a moral responsibility to oppose him however they can. The wink-and-nod games of the hearings were designed to obscure Alito's record and frame him as genial and reasonable. If the Democrats accept this, or even quietly vote against him without further protest, they further the lie that this is an ordinary nomination in an ordinary time. If they filibuster and stand firm, there's a chance that the now politically weakened Republicans will back down and not risk putting themselves on the line for destroying nearly 200 years of Senate tradition for the naked goal of increasing their power. But Democrats have to take the risk of standing strong, and we as ordinary citizens have to do all we can to convince them to do so.
- NYT Warns of Unrestrained Bush Powers
The Imperial Presidency at Work
New York Times & t r u t h o u t ...Mr. Bush, however, seems to see no limit to his imperial presidency. First, he issued a constitutionally ludicrous "signing statement" on the McCain bill. The message: Whatever Congress intended the law to say, he intended to ignore it on the pretext the commander in chief is above the law. That twisted reasoning is what led to the legalized torture policies, not to mention the domestic spying program.
Then Mr. Bush went after the judiciary, scrapping the Levin-Graham bargain. The solicitor general informed the Supreme Court last week that it no longer had jurisdiction over detainee cases. It said the court should drop an existing case in which a Yemeni national is challenging the military tribunals invented by Mr. Bush's morally challenged lawyers after 9/11. The administration is seeking to eliminate all other lawsuits filed by some of the approximately 500 men at Gitmo, the vast majority of whom have not been shown to pose any threat.
Both of the offensive theories at work here - that a president's intent in signing a bill trumps the intent of Congress in writing it, and that a president can claim power without restriction or supervision by the courts or Congress - are pet theories of Judge Samuel Alito, the man Mr. Bush chose to tilt the Supreme Court to the right.
The administration's behavior shows how high and immediate the stakes are in the Alito nomination, and how urgent it is for Congress to curtail Mr. Bush's expansion of power. Nothing in the national consensus to combat terrorism after 9/11 envisioned the unilateral rewriting of more than 200 years of tradition and law by one president embarked on an ideological crusade.
NEED MORE REASONS? See the following:
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