Dear fellow MoveOn member,
The highest court in the land is not meant to be a partisan tool for the Republican Party. But Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, is a Republican political operative—a "partisan warrior," as The Washington Post describes him.1
He's spent his career in Washington, D.C., and has been at the center of every major Republican legal battle for the last two decades, from drafting the Bill Clinton articles impeachment to being the "legal hit man" for George W. Bush during the 2000 Florida recount to serving as an aide to Bush in the White House.2
He even called Hillary Clinton a "b*tch."3
Bush rewarded Kavanaugh with a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, where he's voted against abortion rights, against the Affordable Care Act, against unions, and has been a powerful ally of big business and Wall Street, challenging environmental protections, Net Neutrality, and even doubting the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.4
Of course, Kavanaugh's nomination comes after Senate Leader Mitch McConnell stole a Supreme Court pick from President Barack Obama.
This is a monumental crisis for our democracy, and it requires a monumental response from us. And that's why I need to ask you:
Kavanaugh was one of the picks of the Federalist Society, an extremely powerful, nationwide organization of conservative lawyers closely tied to the Koch brothers and other right-wing mega-donors. The big-money conservative group Judicial Crisis Network has already announced that it will spend $1.4 million on ads in four states with vulnerable Democratic senators in an effort to swing their votes for his confirmation.5
Kavanaugh—like Trump's first pick, Neil Gorsuch—is young enough to possibly remain on the Court for the next 30 years. If confirmed, Kavanaugh would join four other Republican-appointed justices to form a majority that will interpret the U.S. Constitution and laws in ways harmful to the values of a majority of Americans. It would be a seismic shift, impacting the decisions of the court and our country's future for at least a generation.
But what if I told you that there is a clear path to stopping Kavanaugh's nomination and saving the Supreme Court. Would you take it?
There is! A HUGE number of us has to get involved and STAY involved.
It's really that simple.
If you think about it, it makes a lot of sense. It takes a powerful movement to reach a tipping point. Remember what we accomplished last year when Trump tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act? Conventional wisdom was that we'd lose—and quickly. But a huge number of people worked relentlessly, and we won.
But again: The only way to win is if a huge—HUGE—number of us takes action. That's why I'm asking:
It's clear that to save the Supreme Court, we need to set HUGE goals that will require a huge number of us pitching in. First, we need to build the infrastructure to succeed. Then, we need to convince our friends and family, and folks who aren't usually as political as we are to join us.
If we succeed in doing that, I believe that we can win. But it won't be easy. MoveOn is gearing up to:
- Keep the phones of key senators ringing off the hook, every single day. During the Trumpcare fight last year, I was amazed as MoveOn members set new records for the number of calls made. Frankly, I'd never seen anything like it. I truly think that this phone calls program might have been the tipping point in the fight. As MoveOn's data analyst Amy White explained, "Using some data and a whole lot of math, we identify progressive-leaning voters in key districts with members of Congress who most need to hear from their constituents. Then, we make huge numbers of calls to alert those voters to what's happening and encourage them to get involved!" MoveOn's program to alert activists across America and flood Congress with calls works better than anything I've seen out there. But I'm told that it does cost serious money: to pay for voter lists, for data analysts, for staff to support the volunteers who reach out to progressive activists that MoveOn identifies in key states, and to run ads.
- Collect stories from survivors of back-alley abortions that are just as heart-wrenching as the stories told by folks who would have died without the Affordable Care Act. MoveOn will share these stories in videos and ads to make sure that on-the-fence senators understand that a vote for Kavanaugh is a vote to repeal Roe v. Wade. And we won't go back to the time before Roe.
- Generate compelling videos that are seen hundreds of millions of times, with MoveOn's in-house Video Lab and my team at Inequality Media. These videos are a key way to reach progressives who might not read an email like this one, but will get involved after seeing the videos. These videos will engage and educate more Americans, inspire them to get involved, and generate large numbers of calls to Congress, as well.
- Launch a massive, on-the-ground organizing push to stop Kavanaugh's confirmation. MoveOn is gearing up to launch a huge day of action with allies including NARAL. MoveOn is planning events all around the country on August 26, so that senators know that there is a massive public backlash against his outrageous nomination.
Doing all of this will take massive resources. MoveOn didn't budget for this, so it's critically important we help out.
Thanks for all you do.
–Robert Reich
Sources:
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This email was sent to Eddie Alfaro on July 12th, 2018. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.
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