Update from Sarah Jane, Sept 23, 2018: Now I sorta kinda know how Rachel Maddow feels. I wrote an update post and it was utterly blown out of the water by fresh foul news before it posted.
So! Since drafting this update, Ronan Farrow and Jane Meyer wrote a New Yorker story about a new Kavanaugh accuser stepping forward, Deborah Ramirez. This incident happened during Kavanaugh’s and Ramirez’s freshman year at Yale University. Read the New Yorker story here:
And as that was breaking (seriously, no kidding, these things happened within minutes of each other), lawyer Michael Avenatti announced what turned out to be a third incident, which promises to be far worse, if you can believe it. Avenatti included screenshots in his tweets but I’m retweeting @RVAwonk’s tweets because she quotes them, making them easier to read:
“We are aware of significant evidence of multiple house parties in the DC area during the early 1980s during which Brett Kavanaugh, Mark Judge, & others participate[d] in the targeting of women with alcohol/drugs in order to allow a ‘train’ of men to subsequently gang rape them.”
“There are multiple witnesses that will corroborate these facts and each of them must be called to testify publicly.” Holy. Shit.
And let’s shine a spotlight on the implications for the GOP Congressional leadership, which is mentioned in the Mayer/Farrow story. They had a notion that subsequent allegations would come to light, and their reaction was to accelerate the confirmation timeline. GOP operative John Weaver (@JWGOP) brought the fire on this point:
Trying to ram this through should anger every American. They knew last week others were coming forward and they didn’t give a damn the damage to SCOTUS, trust in our government, etc. Moral bankruptcy for sure.
I am going to hope and trust that no other accusers step forward between 10 pm EST and the morning. (Please. I need my sleep, dammit.)
But, JFC, these people.
Don’t let up in your calls to your Senators, but your demand now is that Kavanaugh withdraw. Might not be a bad idea to ask Senate Judiciary Committee leader Chuck Grassley to resign his chairmanship of that group. Because, JFC.
Back to what I wrote earlier today, which I have lightly updated in places:
Keep watching the Twitter feeds of @Celeste_Pewter and also Ben Wikler of MoveOn at @BenWikler.
Between the two you will learn developments as they happen and you’ll get updates on the National Walkout to Support Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.
Tarana Burke (@TaranaBurke) put that together. Here is the key info, from the Facebook page for the event:
Dr. Christine Blasey Ford has bravely come forward and shared her story about her sexual assault at the hands of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Even though Dr. Blasey Ford has repeatedly stated her desire to testify and bravely share her story, Senate Republicans are doing everything they can to shame, bully, and force her to testify under their unacceptable, inappropriate conditions.
At 1 p.m. EST Monday, join us for a national walk-out to show our support for Dr. Blasey Ford. All you need to do is wear black and walk out – of your home, your office, your classroom, wherever you are – and post a picture to your social media with the hashtag #BelieveSurvivors.
If you can’t walk out, you can show your support by posting a video or a picture to this event. Help spread the word: we believe Dr. Blasey Ford. We believe survivors. And we won’t stand for Senate Republicans’ despicable attempts to strong-arm a sexual assault survivor.
Here is the Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/2132578240149628/
You’ll note that the walkout folks aren’t telling you where you should go once you walk out–just to wear black, leave at 1 pm EST, photograph yourself, and post it to social media with the #BelieveSurvivors hashtag.
Also, keep calling your Senators on Kavanaugh–in light of last night’s revelations, we’re urging you to demand he withdraw his nomination–and keep urging friends and family to call daily. If your Senators are on the Judiciary Committee, it’s extra-important for you to call. Ditto if your Senators are Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, Jeff Flake, Ben Sasse, or Bob Corker.
Original text, including calling scripts, from previous posts follows. Stay on this, folks.
Make it damn clear that you support Dr. Ford and her request for the FBI to examine her claim.
Here is a calling script Celeste Pewter (@Celeste_Pewter on Twitter) wrote Thursday to use with all Senators. If either or both of yours serve on the Judiciary Committee, scroll down a bit for a special script for them.
If any of your Senators are on the Judiciary Committee, it is extra-important that you call, and extra-important that any friends and family represented by them call.
Here is a calling script that Celeste Pewter wrote specifically for speaking to Senators who serve on the Judiciary Committee. Below that is a link to the full list of members followed by a written list of members with their party and state affiliations.
Here’s a link to the full membership of the Senate Judiciary Committee, but I will break out all the names and states further down to make it easier to figure out who represents you and people you know and love.
Link:
https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/about/members
And here’s the broken-out list. Again, only use this to ID Senators who represent you or the home states of your friends and family. The Senators’ offices will disregard calls from non-constituents and might use them as an excuse to dismiss any pressure they’re feeling from their legitimate constituents.
The GOP Judicial Committee members:
Chuck Grassley of Iowa (he’s the current Chairman)
Orrin Hatch of Utah (he has announced he won’t run again)
Michael Lee of Utah (yes, BOTH of Utah’s Senators are on the Judiciary Committee.)
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina
John Cornyn of Texas
Ted Cruz of Texas (yes, BOTH of Texas’s senators are on the Judiciary Committee.)
Ben Sasse of Nebraska (he has announced he won’t run again)
Jeff Flake of Arizona (he has announced he won’t run again)
Mike Crapo of Indiana
Thom Tillis of North Carolina
John Kennedy of Louisiana
The Democratic Judicial Committee members (know that virtually all of them if not all of them have already come out as opposing Kavanaugh, but double-check their social media feeds before calling so you can cite their own words on the matter):
Dianne Feinstein of California (she’s the ranking member, aka Grassley’s minority counterpart. She has been taking heat for ‘holding back’ Dr. Ford’s allegation when she was actually trying to honor her request for anonymity; thank her for her attempts to defend her)
Patrick Leahy of Vermont (earlier in the process, the former Judiciary Committee chairman credibly accused Kavanaugh of perjuring himself under oath during previous judicial hearings for a lower-ranking post)
Dick Durbin of Illinois
Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island
Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota
Christopher Coons of Delaware
Richard Blumenfeld of Connecticut
Mazie Hirono of Hawaii
Cory Booker of New Jersey
Kamala Harris of California (yes, BOTH of California’s Senators are on the Judiciary Committee)
Also! Call your Senators regardless of whether they’re on the Judiciary Committee or not. If they’ve already committed to a ‘no,’ thank them. If they’re on the fence, tell them why you want them to vote ‘no.’ If they’re a ‘yes,’ do the same. Pressure them politely, but mercilessly.
And know this, too: we could all still fail to stop Kavanaugh. But that was true yesterday, and true last week. Keep fighting. Keep calling. Keep urging friends and family to call. Keep the pressure up.
Below is the September 16, 2018 script from Celeste Pewter that references Ford and calls for no forward movement on Kavanaugh until the allegations are fully investigated. But! Before you pick up the phone, check her Twitter feed (@Celeste_Pewter) in case she’s posted an even more timely calling script.
Lastly, check the feed of Ben Wikler, Washington, D.C. head of MoveOn. He will have the word on any #StopKavanaugh protests popping up there. And of course there’s the nightly #KremlinAnnex protests in Lafayette Park, as well as #StandOnEveryCorner nightly protests across America.
Language from previous posts on stopping Kavanaugh appear below.
Late on September 9, @Celeste_Pewter tweeted a link to a Guardian article in which Vice President Mike Pence acknowledged he might be needed to break a potential tie in Senate voting on Kavanaugh’s nomination. If that happens, it would be the first time in history that a Vice President casts a tie-breaking vote on a SCOTUS nominee.
Link is here:
Celeste Pewter retweeted the link with this message:
I know all of this feels inevitable, but it’s NOT. The fact that Pence is saying this, shows wavering amongst the GOP. Which is significant considering the GOP have the majority. So let’s call and fight. (And no, I don’t think he’d say it as a fake-out)
Now is not the time to let up. Call. Keep calling daily until the point is moot.
Boost your Democratic Senators for bringing the fight, and pressure your Republican Senators into voting no.
Once you’ve made your calls, encourage friends and family to call their Senators, too. It’s extra-important that you ask those in red states to call and oppose the SCOTUS nomination.
Recruiting others to the cause is key. We need a ton of people calling their Senators 24/7, making it damn clear that Kavanaugh is a NO. Refer to @Celeste_Pewter’s calling script below and forward it with abandon.
Update from Sarah Jane, September 4, 2018: This post originally appeared on July 16, 2018. With the Kavanaugh hearings starting today I am making an exception to my hiatus to offer updated info on how you can #StopKavanaugh.
This is another situation we have to treat like the fight to save Obamacare. We need to mobilize massive, massive, MASSIVE pressure. You need to call your Senators every day on this, and you need to recruit friends and family to call their Senators every day. For serious.
Our friend @Celeste_Pewter has been diligently beating the drum on the Kavanaugh issue, stressing the importance of fighting back and giving options for how to do it. We at OTYCD are reproducing her September 3, 2018 string of tweets on the topic. Scroll down to learn how to support her and her work.
All: Tomorrow [September 4] is going to be tense day for all of us. Remember: NONE of you are alone. If you need a pep talk or cat pictures, ping me. Also remember: we’re all frustrated and angry with how the hearings are proceeding, but let’s focus on what we CAN do at the moment.
Our part in this can be broken down into a few steps: 1. Calling any senators we have on judiciary, and demand they question vigorously. 2. Telling our Senators to vote no. 3. Pushing for state-level protections, a la MA’s Nasty Women Act. 4. Getting 5 others to do 1-3.
If you can do a little more and are in driving distance of D.C. – consider joining the protests. Let the Senate know we’re watching. To paraphrase @benwikler, the more eyes, the better [The link goes to a Facebook page called Show Up to Stop Kavanaugh!, an event that starts at 6 pm in Washington, D.C. Also, follow @benwikler for updates on the protest]:
https://www.facebook.com/events/251262148834237/
If you’re able to watch a live stream, the Kavanaugh hearing’s live stream is here:
If you’re looking to write postcards – and I know several of you write thoughtful, eloquent messages every week, @getloudnowusa has provided excellent templates here:
https://getloudnow.squarespace.com/gln/blockbrett
And I feel like I’ve linked this a million times, but: 1. Scripts:
3. @ThisEastonLife‘s handy sheet to phone numbers for those on Judiciary [This leads to a screen shot that we can’t reproduce, but you can find it at the @ThisEastonLife Twitter home page]
4. My Kavanaugh Medium guide, but with specific focus on state-level protections [Including this as a clickable link because weird technical issues won’t allow reproduction of the URL]
Tomorrow’s going to be tough. Everything you might feel tomorrow. = 100% valid. Just remember: keep focusing on what you CAN control. And if we each do those four simple steps? Imagine 4 x 1000 or 2000. That’s a lot of collective power. Let’s get to work. Ask w/ questions.
P.S. 1. For those of you who are looking for this thread in text form, I’m formatting the TinyLetter now. 2. Don’t forget to hashtag any tweets about SCOTUS-related calls with #ICalledMyReps – @icalledmyreps will boost. Let’s share who’s picking up, staffers to ask for, etc.
Original post follows.
Call your senators and demand that they vote NO on Brett Kavanaugh, Team Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court of the United States.
First, an apology from Sarah Jane: I meant to write and queue this earlier, closer to when the nominee was named. Life and work deadlines got in the way. I can only apologize and repeat the fact that OTYCD is a part-time endeavor. Thanks for your patience.
Anyway. We know who the nominee is now, and his judicial record is as noxious as you’d expect, given that he passed muster with The Federalist Society.
We need to push back.
The fight will be hard, but not impossible. And the fight will definitely be impossible if we don’t bother to fight at all.
Your Senators need to hear from you, and you need to be firm and clear. (And polite.)
So! Call your two Senators and tell them you want them to oppose Kavanaugh’s SCOTUS nomination. Then call friends and family across the country and ask them to do the same. And keep calling as new developments emerge about Kavanaugh and his views. (We at OTYCD expect to devote future posts to this issue.)
Remember: Loud, fierce, sustained protests against Trumpcare and Trumpcare 2.0 made them fail. It was the folks who called, texted, left voicemails, and showed up to protest who made the difference. If we can make loud, fierce, sustained protests against Kavanaugh, we could sink his nomination.
Check the link below to see if either of your Senators are on the chamber’s Judiciary Committee. If they are, it is extra-important that you call. Bonus points if you do this on behalf of friends and family and update them on their own Senators.
https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/about/members
Before you call, you should check the social media feeds of your Senators and see if they’ve issued a statement on Kavanaugh.
If they’ve already agreed to vote no, thank them for that.
If they’ve already agreed to vote yes, urge them to change their vote.
Celeste Pewter (@Celeste_pewter) got there first with great scripts on this topic. The trio you see below are a) a script supporting the McConnell rule, updated to reflect the name of the SCOTUS nominee; b) a simple ‘No on Kavanaugh’ script; and c) talking points you can use to expand on the main scripts.
Please scroll down to learn how you can support Celeste Pewter’s work.
One Thing You Can Do 