Rally on the Supreme Court Steps

Some of our members attened the rally to protest the "nuclear option" - that is the Republican "leadership's" [sic] threat to silence minority opinion and subvert the Constitutional Advice and Consent authority on confirming federal judges by tampering with the Senate's filibuster rules. (For more information, see: http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=17698).

Senate Democratic Leader Reid wrote: Dear Mike,

Keep the Momentum Going! Help stop the GOP power grab by writing a letter to the editor of your local newspaper: www.democrats.org/action

Learn more about this important issue and view photos of the Supreme Court rally on our Stop the Abuse of Power website: www.democrats.org/nuclear

Today I stood in front of the Supreme Court and collected more than 1 million petitions from people all across America. Standing there, I heard your voices urging the Senate to reject any attempt to do away with the system of checks and balances our founding fathers created to protect the rights and voices of all Americans.

I want to say thank you for standing up and lending your voice to this debate.

Republicans want to go "nuclear" and turn the Senate into a rubber stamp for President Bush. They want to silence Senate Democrats -- the one remaining check on President Bush's power. If they can do away with debate in the Senate, they can get whatever they want -- right-wing Supreme Court Justices, Social Security privatization, and tax breaks for the wealthy that will plunge us deeper in debt.

But Senate Democrats are going to fight them every step of the way. And this fight will be different than any other fight in the history of the Senate -- because it will include you.

The Republicans are arrogant with power. If they don't like the rules, they break them. If they don't like someone standing in their way, they attack them. We have some Republicans in the Senate that are considering throwing out 200 years of Senate history in order to pack the courts with right wing judges. And we have a Republican Leader in the House of Representatives who attacks judges who don't agree with him and corrupts our government by running roughshod over the ethics committee.

It's a complete abuse of power by the Republicans and if they can get away with this on judges, they will get away with this on legislation like Social Security too. There is no distinction.

This is about more than a few unqualified judges, this is about protecting the rights of disabled Americans to work, the rights of minorities to vote, the rights of every American to have clean air, safe drinking water and be heard in Washington.

Thank you,

Harry Reid
Senate Democratic Leader

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Art Fabel's report on the rally:

I borrowed this picture from the People for the American Way's website and posted it in the files section (of the discussion group). This picture is symbolic of many things: 1. People rallying to keep the Supreme Court free from one sided interpretation of the Constitution, 2. The press ignoring Liberal causes, 3. We need more people protesting to become visible, 4. Many organizations coming together for a shared cause, and 5. The power of the internet.

What was very surprising was that there were about 10 television cameras at the event and I don't think it made it to the evening news. The press seemed to give a yawn about the rally on the Supreme Court steps to protest the nuclear option.

So I thought I would add a few more dots on the Internet to say we were there, we care, and we're not giving up. Somewhere in the crowd of that picture were four members of this group: Gina Angiola, Rachael Holstine, Maida Tryon, and Art Fabel. Join us next time!