The Issue
Supreme Court Justice and feminist icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away Friday night at the age 87. While it is important to take time to mourn and process this loss, it is also a crucial time to take action.
What's at Stake
RBG dedicated her life to the fight for civil rights, equal voting rights, abortion access, women’s health, and social justice. With 43 days to the election 45 will rush to appoint a conservative justice from his short list, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (more about getting him out later this week) has vowed the Senate will confirm 45’s appointee.
45’s appointee would shift the ideological balance of the Supreme Court to five conservative justices plus John Roberts, a not-so-dependable right leaning justice - a tilt the U.S. has not seen in over 50 years (MAGA I guess). This gives us five guaranteed conservative justices, three guaranteed liberal justices, and one floater. Either way, this tilt will unwind the progress we have made towards equal rights, social justice, democracy, and fair elections.
There are three scenarios:
- 45 and Mitch rush an appointment in the next 43 days.
- Scenario 1 doesn’t happen, Biden wins, 45 and Mitch rush an appointment before Biden takes over in January. (so remember - even if we beat scenario 1 we HAVE to stay awake for this one).
- The appointment happens after inauguration.
A few quick reminders:
- What SCOTUS Does: the Supreme Court interprets the Constitution and its application to current cases, setting a precedent that every court in the country has to follow. They do this by taking cases and essentially voting on the outcome. Their passing or striking down decides on everything from the legalization of gay marriage to voting rights to workplace discrimination to abortion access to housing. They protect our rights and the rights of those who lack the privilege to have a voice as loud as our’s.
- How SCOTUS Justices Are Appointed: The President appoints a justice who then requires Senate confirmation - our Senate is currently 53 Republicans and 45 Democrats. #TBT to 2016 when Mitch blocked the Senate vote for Obama’s appointment because it was too close to the inauguration - a whole 11 months.
What We Can Do
Time to hit the phones and emails yall. Our Senators MUST block the vote for 45’s SCOTUS appointment before the inauguration.
- Prior to RBG’s death, a handful of Republican senators said they would oppose filling the Supreme Court seat before the next President takes office. We need to call and email their offices to support them and pressure them to uphold their previous statements about this. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT). Find thier contact information here.
- Contact your Senators to demand the SCOTUS appointment wait until after the inauguration. Find your Senators’ contact information here.
- While contacting your own Senators is most effective, this is an all hands on deck initiative. As a D.C. resident I don’t have Senate representation so I’m picking every Republican here and sending my message.
Call Script:
“Hi my name is [name] and I live in [you city, state]. I am sure you, like me, are mourning the loss of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I am calling on you to follow the precedent set in 2016 after the passing of Justice Scalia and commit to not confirming a Supreme Court Justice until after the inauguration. Allow the people to make this decision. Thank you.”
Copy/paste email/contact form text:
Subject: Commit to allowing the people to decide on the next SCOTUS Justice.
Dear Senator [name],
My name is [your name] and I live at [address]. I am sure you, like me, are mourning the loss of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Today I am calling on you to follow the precedent set in 2016 after the passing of Justice Scalia, and to commit to not confirming a Supreme Court Justice until after the inauguration. Allow the people to make this decision.
Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to your action on this important matter.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
Lastly: make sure your's and your network's voting plans are ironclad. Click here to learn more about researching your local ballot, and here for how to plan your voting.
TL;DR
We're calling Senators to demand they commit to not confirming a Supreme Court Justice until after the inauguration. Find Senators to call and email here.
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