Subject: Save our courts: Rally Wednesday in San Francisco, San Jose, Pacifica, and Novato

From: "Justin Ruben, MoveOn PAC" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 25 Apr 2005 14:48:18 -0700

Dear MoveOn member:

"Talk is cheap," as the saying goes.  But after 80 or so hours, it starts to add up.

Just ask Becky Dernbach and her friends at Carleton College in Minnesota. Last week they decided to hold a citizens' filibuster to raise awareness about Republican leaders' judicial takeover scheme. They called up everyone they knew and asked them to take a shift, then set up a podium on the campus quad.  In the end they kept talking continuously for 100 hours -- one for every senator who'd be silenced by the "nuclear option."  In the process, they ignited a debate across their campus, inspired scores of students to call the Senate, and prompted people around the country to organize similar actions (see photos of their event at right).

What can we learn from their example? This is an emergency, we all need to stand up right now to make our voices heard, and if we do, we can move mountains.

You don't have to stay up all night reading the Constitution.  But if you can, please come out for an hour this Wednesday to our emergency rallies, to send a clear message: Americans want fair judges, not extremists appointed to favor corporate interests and right-wing fringe groups. Sign up now for a rally in your region:

http://www.moveonpac.org/event/judicialrallies/?id=5443-86329-YMPeDCmNxyRH8KtGitfIjg&t=1

This weekend, in an address broadcast to millions of households over religious TV and radio stations, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist stepped up his threats to seize absolute power over judicial nominations.  His plan would leave us virtually powerless to stop Bush from stacking the courts with radical judges who'd still be attacking basic protections like the minimum wage long after Bush is out of office.

So this week, from Port Alexander, Alaska to Biloxi, Mississippi, we're fighting back.  Thousands of us will stand up for democracy at our Rallies to Stop the Judicial Takeover.

To maximize our impact, local volunteers are reaching out to the media -- one key reason why we all need to show up. At the rallies, we'll increase the likelihood of media coverage and catch the public's attention by creating a memorable and striking scene: we'll carry signs which resemble common Keep Out/Private Property/No Entry signs, but which read "Right-Wing Judges Only/By Order of Congress" and "Ordinary Americans KEEP OUT."  We'll spread out with these signs in front of courthouses and federal buildings to dramatize, in stark visual terms, Republican leaders' basic plan: seize control of the judicial nominations process, and use that to take the courts away from the American people.

We're up to 125 rallies in 46 states, with considerable growth since Friday.  There's likely one in your area, and if not, please consider hosting your own.  Search here for your local info:

http://www.moveonpac.org/event/judicialrallies/?id=5443-86329-YMPeDCmNxyRH8KtGitfIjg&t=2

These rallies couldn't come at a better time.  Republican leaders have said they're hoping to deploy the "nuclear option" this week.  Yesterday, Republican vote counter Sen. Mitch McConnell told CBS, "We have the votes to do it."  But a growing chorus of opposition from MoveOn members and our allies has made them very nervous. Now some Republicans are sending signals they might delay the vote.  This would be a significant victory -- we'd have more time to alert the public, time to galvanize enough public outrage to force Republican leaders to take their fingers off the nuclear trigger for good.

It's also a key moment to support Democrats and moderate Republicans who've come out against the nuclear option.  One Democrat, Senator Joe Biden from Delaware suggested this weekend that Democrats compromise by letting some of Bush's extreme nominees through.[1]  That kind of talk undermines the strength of the Democrats' position, and we need to let them know we expect them to fight for an independent judiciary with everything they've got.
 
We're building momentum fast -- this weekend, thousands of MoveOn members in our Operation Democracy field program hit the streets to pass out flyers and window signs to their neighbors.  Our hard-hitting new ads will start running today, thanks to almost half a million dollars MoveOn members donated last week.  And we've continued to flood the Senate phone lines with over 100,000 calls.  If we push hard enough, we can delay, and ultimately prevent, this vote.

But to do it, we'll have to pull out all the stops this week.  So sign up for a rally in your region, and if there isn't one, please consider hosting one:

http://www.moveonpac.org/event/judicialrallies/?id=5443-86329-YMPeDCmNxyRH8KtGitfIjg&t=3

How are the Minnesota students now, after their hundred hour marathon?  Organizer Tommy Walker says they're still a bit groggy, but also charged up by their success: "We learned what an incredible impact a few of us can have, working together. We weren't even sure we'd make it through all 100 hours.  But we got everyone talking at Carleton, and then those people told their friends, and they told their friends, and on and on.  And now we're getting contacted by people from all around the country."

Make your voice heard this week.  Come to a rally near you.

Thanks for all you do,

--Justin, Carrie, Micayla, Adam and the MoveOn PAC Team
  Monday, April 25th, 2005

Source:
1.  David Espo, "Frist Defends Bid to End Filibusters," Concord Monitor, April 25, 2005  http://www.moveon.org/r?r=701&t=4

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