I just signed MoveOn PAC's emergency petition to stop the "nuclear option" the far right wing's plan to seize absolute power to stack our courts. If you want an easy way to express your opinion on this issue, you can sign a petition being organized by MoveOn.org:
http://www.moveonpac.org/nuclearSince yesterday, the petition has been delivered straight to Congress every three hours and will continue to be delivered every three hours until the final vote, probably on Tuesday (today). Many of the comments people leave when signing the MoveOn petition will be read aloud on the Senate floor.
If you're not aware of the issue, here's a very quick primer, provided by MoveOn. I take no responsibility for its accuracy or helpfulness.
This Tuesday, the Senate will vote on Republican Leader Bill Frist's "nuclear option" to break the rules of the Senate and give the Republican Party absolute control over appointing federal judges.
For 200 years the minority's right to filibuster has kept our courts fair, by making sure that federal judges needed to get at least some support from both sides of the aisle before they were given life time appointments.
If Frist eliminates the filibuster, his next step would be to force far right partisan judges onto the powerful U.S. Courts of Appeals. The real targets, however, are the four seats on the Supreme Court likely to become vacant in the next four years.
With that much power on the Supreme Court, the far right could strike down decades of progress on labor rights, environmental protections, reproductive rights, and privacy.
The "nuclear option" will live or die by a final vote, probably on Tuesday, and the vote is still way too close to call. There are at least 6 moderate Republicans still on the fence and only 3 more votes needed to win. If we can get enough of our voices into congress and into the streets in the next 72 hours, we can still save our courts.![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
