We’re updating and repeating this recent post because pushing back against the Barrett nomination is red alert-important, and will remain so until enough GOP Senators stand down or the nomination goes through. Expect to see this post many more times in the near future, with relevant updates.
Call your Senators and demand that they vote NO on SCOTUS nominee Amy Coney Barrett, and ask friends and family to call their Senators to ask them to vote NO as well.
Update, October 10, 2020: Are you familiar with the phrase “Hoist with his own petard”? It’s from Shakespeare’s immortal play, Hamlet, and it means your enemy blew himself up with his own bombs. A big, messy self-own of the highest order.
Well. Those of us who were wondering how and why Trump and the GOP Congressional leadership had avoided catching COVID-19 got an answer during early October 2020.
They’d gotten lucky until Saturday, September 26, 2020, the day they celebrated the foul act of nominating Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court of the United States.
It’s a foul act on several levels. Mitch McConnell flamboyantly stomped upon even the idea of courtesy and respecting rules, even those of his own making, to shove Barrett’s nomination through.
The act also flouted the dying request of legendary SCOTUS Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.”
The Rose Garden ceremony for Barrett’s nomination quickly proved to be a COVID-19 superspreader event.
Among those affected are GOP Senators Mike Lee of Utah and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Both have said they will quarantine for ten days, not the standard 14.
Why, might you ask?
Why, to keep the Barrett nomination schedule chugging along unaffected, despite the fact that McConnell has expressed a wish to halt all other Senatorial work.
Lee and Tillis both sit on the GOP side of the Senate Judicial Committee. Without them, the numbers are at 10 to 10–a tie.
Earlier, McConnell had rebuffed calls to vote to allow Senators to conduct votes from home via Zoom or similar technology.
He needs a quorum to show up, in person–a minimum of 12 members–to move the nomination out of committee.
If and when the Barrett nomination leaves the Judicial Committee for a floor vote, McConnell will need as many GOP Senators as possible to vote yes.
Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska have already said they are against holding a vote on Barrett before the election. So, off the bat, McConnell is down to 51.
GOP Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin has also tested positive for COVID-19. That reduces the ranks to 50.
Vice President Mike Pence, whose duties include breaking ties in the Senate, was at the Rose Garden event. Not only is he not entering quarantine, he’s keeping a schedule of public events.
That’s pretty damn irresponsible, but McConnell and Chuck Grassley of Iowa might have Pence beat on that front. Grassley, who is third in the line of succession to the president, has refused to get tested for COVID-19, and McConnell won’t say if he’s been tested or not.
We have to assume Grassley and McConnell are doing this deliberately to avoid having to quarantine and reduce the odds of a timely quorum even more.
Anyway, the point? Keep calling your Senators, and keep urging friends and family to call their Senators.
If they are Democrats, urge them to use every procedural tool in the book to slow or stop the Barrett nomination.
If they are GOP, make it damn clear that you are Not Happy At All with this bullshit maneuver to shove Barrett through even though all other Senatorial work has stopped.
If they are on the Judiciary Committee–and this post gives the full list of members below–it is extra-important that you call, and continue to call daily, until the Barrett nomination is pulled or the point is moot.
Original text follows.
Over the weekend, Trump announced his choice of Amy Coney Barrett to fill Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat on the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS).
Sure, we could go over Barrett’s record in depth and count off all the ways in which she’s a lousy choice for the top court of the land. Instead, we’ll let Louise Knott Ahern, who tweets as @weezwrites, sum her up:
Ruth Bader Ginsburg is going to be replaced by a woman who walked through every door that Ginsburg opened for her so she can promptly use her position to shut them all for others behind her.
Let us be straight with you. It’s bad. The GOP controls the Senate, and McConnell has the votes to open hearings on her nomination; those are expected to start on October 12.
All is NOT lost, however. We need to pressure our Senators against going along with this crap.
Multiple polls show that Americans want the winner of the November 3 election to choose the next justice. FWIW, most national polls of likely and registered voters also show that Joe Biden has a firm, steady lead over Donald Trump.
McConnell doesn’t give a damn about what the public wants, but GOP Senators up for re-election in mere weeks certainly do.
Lindsey Graham, current head of the Senate Judiciary committee, is so vulnerable, he’s gone on Hannity recently more than once to beg for money for his campaign.
Susan Collins of Maine was already in a world of pain for casting the deciding vote to place Brett Kavanaugh on SCOTUS. Barrett’s nomination should amplify her agony.
Several other GOP Senators can, and should, feel the heat for going along with this nominee nonsense.
We need to bring the heat by calling them daily until they relent. We need to recruit friends and family to join us in bringing the heat.
Reminder: Judicial nominations go through the Senate, not the House of Representatives. That’s why you should target your two Senators exclusively.
Do I need to tell you Celeste Pewter (@Celeste_Pewter) is on it? Well, she is.
She generated three scripts you can use to make your voice heard.
First, a general script for calling any Senator:
She wrote a second script for Senators who sit on the chamber’s Judiciary Committee. We’ve listed them below and added an asterisk to GOP members who are up for re-election in November:
Majority (Republicans)
*Lindsey Graham of South Carolina (chair) (His Democratic opponent is Jaime Harrison)
Chuck Grassley of Iowa
*John Cornyn of Texas (His Democratic opponent is M.J. Hegar)
Mike Lee of Utah
Ted Cruz of Texas
Ben Sasse of Nebraska
Josh Hawley of Missouri
*Thom Tillis of North Carolina (His Democratic opponent is Cal Cunningham)
*Joni Ernst of Iowa (Her Democratic opponent is Theresa Greenfield)
Mike Crapo of Idaho
John Kennedy of Louisiana
Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee
Minority (Democrats)
Dianne Feinstein of California (Ranking Member, aka Minority Leader)
Patrick Leahy of Vermont
Dick Durbin of Illinois
Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island
Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota
Chris Coons of Delaware
Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut (he has already sent a tweet saying he will refuse to meet with Barrett)
Mazie Hirono of Hawaii
Cory Booker of New Jersey
Kamala Harris of California
Lastly, Pewter wrote a script for use with your state legislators–your state Senators and House Reps.
If Roe vs. Wade is overturned, the states become arbiters of abortion law.
Your state might have “trigger laws” on the books that go into effect if Roe vs Wade is overturned.
This tool from NARAL can tell you whether your state has trigger laws (scroll down a smidge):
Point being–try to learn what the laws are in your state before you call your state legislators and ask them to defend the right to abortion. Depending on where you are, you might be pleasantly surprised.
Here’s Pewter’s script for state legislators:
As always, please show your appreciation for Celeste Pewter in some fashion for the calling scripts reproduced further up the post.
You can follow her on Twitter: @Celeste_Pewter
You can tweet about calling your MoCs, using the #ICalledMyReps hashtag.
You can follow @ICalledMyReps on Twitter.
And you can support her with a small donation through Ko-fi:
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