IF WE WANT JUDGES WHO PROTECT OUR RIGHTS, WE MUST VOTE IN A NEW PRESIDENT AND SENATE.
ACTION ONE: CALL YOUR SENATORS
SAMPLE SCRIPT FOR WYDEN AND MERKLEY:
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code]. I am calling because…
Trump and McConnell have already wreaked havoc on the federal courts, and they cannot be permitted to further pack them with right-wing judges between now and the election. It is time to use procedural maneuvers to stall or slow down this train wreck. In the short time left in this session, please work instead (1) to bring stalled legislation to the floor that our country needs to mitigate the effects of the coronavirus crisis and of structural racism and police misconduct and (2) to develop, together with your colleagues, a strategy for the rapid appointment of progressive judges in the next Congress.
CALL SENATOR MERKLEY
CALL SENATOR WYDEN
ACTION TWO: CALL YOUR HOUSE REPS
Not sure who your U.S. Representative is? Find out here.
SAMPLE SCRIPTS FOR REPRESENTATIVES:
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code]. I am calling because…
The House must continue to do everything possible to mitigate the disastrous effects of both the coronavirus crisis and structural racism. At the same time, it cannot abandon its attempts to investigate and hold this Administration accountable.
[For Blumenauer: In light of yesterday’s Supreme Court decision in Trump v. Mazars, please ensure that the Ways and Means Committee demands Trump’s tax returns again, linking them to specific legislative and investigative functions.]
[For all but Blumenauer: In light of yesterday’s Supreme Court decision in Trump v. Mazars, please ensure that the appropriate House committees seek specific records that are truly needed for it to perform their legislative and investigative functions.]
CALL SUZANNE BONAMICI (OR-01)
CALL GREG WALDEN (OR-02)
CALL BLUMENAUER (OR-03)
CALL PETER DEFAZIO (OR-04)
CALL KURT SCHRADER (OR-05)
ACTION THREE: DUMP TRUMP, FLIP THE SENATE, ELECT REPS WHO WILL PROTECT OUR RIGHTS, AND KEEP EDUCATING YOURSELF.
—Keep learning about racism — how is baked into our country’s design and how it works today. Justice in June has 10-, 25-, and 45-minute actions you can take every day. They recommend this video.
—Dump Trump, Flip the Senate, Stop Gerrymandering, by Working to Get Out The Vote (GOTV).
Indivisible Oregon is working with Swing Left and its smart Super State Strategy to defeat Trump and the GOP and transform our government. We’ve adopted Arizona—where we are simultaneously working to flip the White House, the Senate, and those state houses key to rolling back Republican gerrymandering—by writing letters to likely voters, following up with phone–banking, and raising money for their campaigns. Action is the antidote to anxiety (and despair)!
- We host letter writing events on Zoom every Saturday — sign up at https://swingleft.org/group/indivisible-oregon
- You can also write letters to voters from home, whenever it’s convenient for you. Register with votefwd.org and get started.
- Or, you can host your own virtual letter-writing party through Swing Left. It’s easy and fun.
BACKGROUND:
Our country’s in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic, that’s threatening our mental, physical, and economic health and our ability to vote safely. Simultaneously, we’re trying to remedy the structural racism and police misconduct exposed by George Floyd’s murder. The House has responded by passing legislation to deal with these critical problems, that’s languished in the GOP-controlled Senate obsessed with confirming as many ultra-conservative judges committed to dismantling our rights as possible before November’s election.
McConnell’s reshaped the federal judiciary for decades by pushing through judges comprising almost 30% of the bench, without needing Democrats’ acquiescence. He’s not done, however, because he’s vowed to leave no vacancies behind and he’s pressuring older judges to retire.
Trump’s judges have already chipped away at our basic rights and will continue to do so for decades, even after new President and Senate elected, by enjoining executive orders and regulations reversing Trump’s disastrous policies and hollowing out or striking down legislation.
Nevertheless, the federal judiciary needs more judges, and Congress can change the Supreme Court’s composition by adding new seats or imposing term limits. For this reason alone, we must convince fellow citizens that both the composition of our courts and their votes matter.
