April 15, 2024
Supreme Court corruption, confirming judges, new gun rules, and more!
Contact all members of Congress:
- By phone: (202) 224-3121
- By email: democracy.io
- By US mail: Representatives / Senators
- By fax: Representatives / Senators
- By Resistbot: Resist.bot
Contact White House or other federal agencies:
- LEONARD LEO FINALLY SUBPOENAED – AND DEFIES IT
Months after the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to authorize a subpoena of conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo as part of the inquiries into Justice Clarence Thomas’ corruption, Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL) finally issued that subpoena on Thursday. Leo announced he would not comply within hours. With the clock running down on this Senate, we don’t have any more time to lose, and the current pace of action is unacceptable. Let’s reach out to our senators and tell them to pursue steps to enforce the subpoena immediately, and urge them to push for contempt of Congress charges.
- FILL EVERY SEAT ON THE FEDERAL BENCH
Democrats face a tough fight to keep both the White House and the Senate this November, raising the stakes of every judicial vacancy – just two seats flipped would deny us a clear shot at getting progressives on the federal bench until at least 2027. While the Biden Administration has kept pace with Trump’s progress on judges and has done remarkable work diversifying the bench in both personal and professional background, there are currently eight vacancies on circuit courts and 62 on district courts, of which 52 have no nominees. Their efforts have been particularly stymied by the tradition of honoring “blue slip” vetoes on judicial nominees by home state senators in district courts – 31 of the judgeships without nominees are in seats where Republican senators have been granted the ability to block them. The confirmation process is also slow and is starting to run up against a Senate schedule marked by election year breaks. We need to raise the pressure on our elected officials to fill every seat while we’re sure we can. Let’s contact the White House and push them to quickly put up a nominee for every single vacancy. And let’s reach out to our senators and urge them to make filling judicial vacancies a priority, including by finally tearing up blue slips and by committing to stay in session as long as it takes to ensure every nominee gets a vote. - TELL FEDEX AND PFIZER TO CUT TIES WITH PROJECT 2025 FUNDERS
We already know what a disaster it would be if Project 2025 came into being. Abortion would be illegal under any circumstance anywhere in the country, there would be no more efforts to fight the climate crisis, and LGBTQ, immigrant, and all communities of color would be threatened. Yet many prominent companies, including FedEx and Pfizer, are key funders of ALEC, which is one of the architects of the plan. The National Campaign for Justice has started a letter writing campaign to tell FedEx and Pfizer to disassociate from ALEC for the good of the wider communities they serve. Let’s join this campaign by sending letters from this template, which contains key talking points, making this an easy and important action. We can also check out StopTheCoup2025.org for more ways to resist Project 2025. - PROTECT VOTING BY MAIL Utah is the only consistently Republican-voting state that sends a mail-in ballot to all voters. Republican lawmakers are doing what they can to undermine the system, despite its popularity with voters: 76% say it produces fair outcomes. If we vote in Utah, let’s contact our local legislators—particularly if they include State Representative Norman Thurston (district 62)—and tell them the Utah vote-by-mail system is working and doesn’t need their restrictions. If we vote in California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, or Washington—the other places with automatic mail-in ballot systems—let’s also contact our local legislators with a preemptive message to protect our vote-by-mail system.
- MAKE OVER-THE-COUNTER BIRTH CONTROL PILLS AFFORDABLE Over-the-counter contraceptive pills are now available in the U.S. This is an important Biden-Harris achievement for reproductive healthcare. At $90 for a 6-month supply, however, many people can’t afford this option. Under Obamacare, birth control pills obtained by prescription are often covered by insurance but coverage of over-the-counter pills isn’t always clear. Let’s push for equitable access to this medication with a message to the White House to companies cover over-the-counter, nonprescription birth control pills without out-of-pocket costs. We can contact Perrigo, supplier of the first over-the-counter pills, and press them to launch a promised assistance program that truly makes the medication accessible to all consumers. We can also ask our senators to prioritize the Affordability is Access Act (S.1698) which includes additional protections for over-the-counter contraceptives, and support the broader Right to Contraception Act (S.1999).
- VOTE FORWARD LETTER-WRITING EVENTVote Forward, the organization that helps volunteers like us to reach out to voters in swing states, has launched its Big Send campaign to wrote 10 million letters to voters in 2024. As part of that effort, on Wednesday, April 17, 8-9 p.m. EDT, Vote Forward will be co-hosting with Stand Up America and NY Congressman Pat Ryan a virtual event to write letters to voters in competitive U.S. House districts in California and New York. Let’s register for this event and join with other letter-writers from across the country to urge likely Democratic voters to go to the polls.
- ADVANCE GUN VIOLENCE PREVENTION IN CONGRESSA recent ProPublica report describes how the Indiana state legislature and governor, kowtowing to the gun lobby, have passed a law that will likely end the decades-long effort to stop the illicit gun sales that contribute to violence in Gary and nearby cities. There are many issues involved here. One of them is that federal law prohibits the public release of information about illegal gun sales by retailers. Another is a federal law that protects gun manufacturers and retailers from civil litigation. The federal Gun Violence Prevention and Community Safety Act (H.R.6596 and S.3407), if passed, would create a federal gun licensing system, require universal background checks, ban individuals who represent safety risks from buying guns, ensure responsible use and storage, ban military-style assault weapons, crack down on gun trafficking, improve oversight of gun dealers, hold the gun industry accountable, and invest in research and community-based gun violence prevention. It has only 21 cosponsors in the House and 3 in the Senate. Let’s tell our Members of Congress why ending gun violence matters to us and ask that they cosponsor H.R.6596 and S.3407.
- SUPPORT WOMEN’S REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS ASSISTANCE PROJECT Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project (WRRAP) is the only independent 501 (c) 3 abortion fund that provides urgently needed financial assistance, on a national level, to those seeking abortion or emergency contraception. Not only can we donate to help fund the work they do, but we can also write letters of support to clinics or the women they serve. Let’s share our story or an encouraging message here.
- HELP ENGAGE VOTERS Building Bridges for America has a vast list of volunteer opportunities for us to help engage voters in swing states. We can help abortion rights mobilization in Nebraska, help young people register to vote, connect with Democratic Party veterans organizations, and so much more. Let’s explore the possibilities here and sign up to help engage voters!
- PROSELYTIZING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Another effort to fuse our public institutions with a very specific set of religious beliefs is underway, led by an organization which aims to shape policy around “a biblical world view.” The National Association of Christian Lawmakers has been pushing bills in multiple state legislatures to bring chaplains into public schools – including using them to replace trained counselors. A version of this law is already in place in Texas and on Governor Ron DeSantis’ desk for signature in Florida, and has been introduced in 12 other states. The NACL’s “biblical principles” include opposing reproductive rights and marriage equality, and they are working on this model legislation with a subsidiary of an organization called Mission Generation, which has an explicit goal of using public school chaplains to proselytize and convert kids. Let’s reach out to our state legislators and urge them to oppose these measures and shine a spotlight on them where they are introduced, and ask them to closely monitor and warn the public as future efforts by the NACL move forward.
- SEND THANKS TO PRESIDENT BIDEN ON NEW GUN RULESLast week the Biden administration finalized new federal regulations that clarify that anyone who “sells firearms predominantly to earn a profit must be federally licensed and conduct background checks, regardless of whether they are selling on the internet, at a gun show or a brick-and-mortar store.” Let’s thank President Biden for doing what he can, in the absence of Congressional and state legislative action, to make our communities safer. And let’s make sure we’re ready to vote for President Biden and other gun safety candidates in November.
STATE-SPECIFIC ACTIONS
- AZ – SUPREME COURT JUDGES ELECTION IN NOVEMBER
This is a quick one. If you or anyone you know is in Arizona, write down these two names: Clint Bolick and Katherine Hackett King. These are two of the justices who signed onto the Arizona Supreme Court’s decision to enforce their 1864 law that bans abortions. Both of them are up for what they call a retention election in November, i.e. voters aren’t being asked to vote for them vs. an opponent, but instead voters are simply being asked if you want to retain these judges. Vote No. That way, they’ll get kicked off the court and the Democratic governor, Katie Hobbs, can appoint two new justices. (h/t Political Charge) - AZ – SPEAK OUT AGAINST A BILL THAT WOULD MAKE KILLING UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANTS “TRESPASSING” ON PROPERTY LEGAL The Arizona legislature has advanced HB 2843 which would allow the use of deadly force against anyone trespassing on people’s property, whether occupied or not. This addition to a current law that legalizes killing people who enter your home puts undocumented migrants at more risk, who often must walk across large ranches on the U.S./Mexico, even when their intent is to turn themselves into border patrol and request asylum. Let’s reach out to our state legislators and tell them this bill goes too far in disregarding the value of human life. Let’s also make sure that Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs knows that if the bill reaches her desk, we want her to veto it.
AND FINALLY, SOME GOOD NEWS
- LAST WEEK’S WINSIt may not always feel like it, but our work is making a difference every day. Our friend Jessica Craven at Chop Wood, Carry Water outlines a few ways how in her run-down of last week’s victories, including yet another $7.4 billion in student loans forgiven, the EPA finalizing the first national limits on forever chemicals in drinking water, and President Biden successfully deterring – at least for now – further escalation between Israel and Iran.
