Author: tampopo

I have to be away from my computer most of tomorrow, so I am posting the Dec. 12th diary now.

I think this should be sent to all members of congress. Maybe Reps. and Senators talk with each other. Perhaps they even listen.

I would appreciate suggestions.

I would like to put Ornstein’s quotes in a shaded box, once I learn how. – Thanks Connecticut Man 1!
Senator/Rep.,

You should be very wary of Judge Samuel Alito. Perhaps afraid is more accurate.

He should not be considered acceptable to any members of Congress, particularly true Conservatives, regardless of his opinions on other matters held dear.

Judge Alito is a threat to your role in the structure of our government. You practice the art of politicking, balancing constituents concerns and needs with those of our society as a whole. Legislation is challenged in court, as it should be.

Norm Ornstein, of the prestigious American Enterprise Institute, has recognized the danger Judge Alito represents. In his article, “Judge Alito Doesn’t Show Congress Enough Deference,” Ornstein states:

[Supreme Court Justice John] Roberts respects Congress and its constitutional primacy; Alito shows serious signs that he does not…

…Roberts is a very conservative guy, and a strict constructionist — one who means it. He understands that Congress is the branch the framers set up in Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution. It is not coincidence that Article 1 is twice as long as Article II, which created the executive branch, and almost four times as long as Article III, which established the judiciary. Judges should bend over doubly and triply backward before overturning a Congressional statute, especially if it is clear that Congress acted carefully and deliberatively…

The court case that has Mr. Ornstein turning such a critical eye on Judge Alito is from 1996, “United States v Rybar.”

From Mr. Ornstein,

Congress had passed the law in a reasonable and deliberate fashion. A genuine practitioner of judicial restraint would have allowed them a wide enough berth to do so. Alito’s colleagues did just that. But Alito used his own logic to call for its overturn, arguing that the possession of machine guns by private individuals had no economic activity associated with it, and that no real evidence existed that private possession of guns increased crime in a way that affected commerce — and thus Congress had no right to regulate it. That kind of judicial reasoning often is referred to as reflecting the “Constitution in Exile.”

Whatever it is, it’s not judicial restraint.

In response to Alito’s opinion, the majority said, “Nothing in Lopez (an earlier Supreme Court case) requires either Congress or the Executive to play Show and Tell with the federal courts at the peril of invalidation of a Congressional statute.”

Mr. Ornstein’s final sentence is a caution to you,

Whatever else it does with Judge Alito at the confirmation hearings, the Senate needs to hold his feet to the fire on this larger issue of deference to the legislative branch.

Don’t let Judge Alito’s opinions on single issues distract you from the danger he presents to our very foundation. Reject his nomination and encourage your colleagues to do the same.

A Concerned Registered Voter,

____
Signed

graphic (once I figure this out)

The 12 Days for Justice are planned actions for protesting Alito’s nomination for the Supreme Court.

Congress reconvenes this Mon., Dec. 12. They will stay in session until work is completed.

Would you be able to write a letter we can all use to send to senators and the Judiciary Committee?

The following is the plan.
Each diary is posted the day before it is to be used, titled: “Diary for Justice – Day __”

Day 1 is Dec. 12th, so the diary with the letter (and graphic?) would be posted on Dec. 11th.

Links to resources are available in 2 previous diaries “here” and “here”.

Day 1(posted 12/11; sent 12/12): A warning to Congress that Alito is a threat to them, weakening checks and balances. It’s personal!

Day 2 (posted 12/12; sent 12/13): age discrimination/ Family Leave Act

Day 3 (posted 12/13; sent 12/14): Alito’s failure to recuse – trust him now?

Day 4 (posted 12/14; sent 12/15): threat to people with disabilities

Day 5 (posted 12/15; sent 12/16): Roe v. Wade. Connecticut Man 1 has one ready to go. Check it out in the comments “here”

Day 6 and 7 (posted 12/16; sent 12/17): separation of church and state/religious freedom

Day 8 (posted 12/17; sent 12/19): Alito’s membership in CAP (Concerned Alumni of Princeton). Teacher Toni is willing to do this one.

Day 9 (posted 12/19; sent 12/20): racial discrimination related to Alito’s court opinions. BostonJoe offered to help. I gave him this one.

Day 10 (posted 12/20; sent 12/21): gender discrimination related to Alito’s court opinions.

Day 11 (posted 12/21; sent 12/22): enivroment/immigration/worker’s rights. Man Eegee has volunteered to write this one.

Day 12 (posted 12/22; sent 12/23) a concluding message of some kind. Just Say, “No?” “We’ll be watching?”

As to coordinating with other blogs, your call.

I read in Think Progress conservatives are using the weekend to begin a campaign: Anti-Alito=Anti-God and they are calling him the “Christmas Candidate.” (Don’t they ever rest?)

Thanks to all of you.

I must be off to work. I will check in later.

Alito is sooo NOT sexy…terrifying seems more accurate.

This is an attempt to organize actions involving groups on a local level, as well as, directly adding to the voices speaking to Senators and the Judiciary committee.

Perhaps such actions will help Senate Democrats and, maybe, even some Republicans gain the courage required to reject Alito.

Following the “12 Days of Christmas,” I am offering reasons to reject Alito and suggest actions that can be taken.

Days 1 and 2 are described “here”
Humming, “On their third day back from recess I worked for Justice by…”

Day 3: Action directed to Senators and Judiciary Committee (e-mails, faxes, phone calls, snail mail),

Is Alito a man to be trusted? A man of his word or ethically challenged?

From the Washington Post

“Democrats said they will press Alito to explain other circumstances in which his statements have conflicted to some degree. When confirmed to a federal appeals court in 1990, Alito told senators he would not rule in matters regarding the investment firm Vanguard Group Inc., in which he had several accounts. Alito did rule in a 2002 case involving Vanguard, however, and later gave several accounts of the circumstances. He said a courthouse computer program failed to alert him to the potential conflict of interest; that he was not legally or ethically bound to recuse himself; and that his statement to the senators applied only to his first few years on the court.”

Think Progress has an update on Alito’s excuses for not recusing himself.

A possible visual aid might be the scales of justice tipped to one side with a bag of $ on it.

Day 4: Action directed to Senators and the Judiciary Committee and local actions.

People For the American Way has a 24 page PDF providing a preliminary view of Alito’s records. He was not very supportive of people with disabilities.

The Coalition for a Fair & Independent Judiciary includes the American Association of People with Disabilities. However, the AAPD site does not have info on it about Alito.

The action for today would be to let senators and Judiciary Committee would be an expression of importance of protecting rights of ALL citizens.

MilitaryTracy when we began thinking about this suggested sending photos (with permission) of family and friends with disabilities – personalize the issue – remind our senators that Alito’s decisions would affect real human beings.

On the local level, this action would be to contact (via e-mail or phone) local organizations involved with disabled people (and their families), letting them know they need to beware of Alito and to contact senators and the judiciary committee.

Day 5: (humming that tune) Prot-e-e-e-ct Roe v. W-a-a-a-de

Direct action to senators and judiciary committee.

In Man Eegee’s Diary, “here”, ConnecticutMan1 offered a coat hanger with the universal NO symbol – a reminder of days before Roe v. Wade.

Brinnainne suggested photo of mom with kids, and a caption, “I had a choice.”

My thought was an outline of a woman with the Capitol building in a universal NO symbol “in utero” and a caption, “The government doesn’t belong here.”

NARAL is offering an activism packet.

Day 6 and 7 (Sat. and Sun.): Action directed locally.

Think Progress has two notices now on conservatives pushing an “Anti-Alito= Anti-God” campaign and using Alito’s court opinions to present him as the “Christmas candidate.”

There are a couple of religious groups in The Coalition for a Fair & Independent Judiciary; one is the “Religious Coalition for Reproductive Rights” which includes Episcopal, Presbyterian, United Methodist, United Church of Christ, Unitarian, and Jewish.

Action would be to contact religious communities to beware of Alito and begin taking actions contacting senators and the Judiciary Committee.

Day 6: Direct Action to senators and judiciary committee and local action.

Alito was a member of CAP (Concerned Alumni of Princeton); this group was concerned with the admittance of minorities and women to Princeton – lowering “standards.”

Alternet has the story.

My suggestion is to send a “graduation CAP” with the caption, “Education is for All Americans.” And a letter about Alito’s past in CAP, noting his pride in membership in his 1985 application and his reluctance now to own up.

Local action would be contacting local teachers associations and unions, informing them of Alito’s membership in CAP and the importance of being informed about Alito, inviting them to contact senators and the judiciary committee about their concerns.

People For the American Waywrite, “Alito’s decisions on civil rights raise a number of troubling questions about his commitment to strong enforcement of the nation’s laws intended to protect people from discrimination. In a number of instances, Alito issued opinions that made it far more difficult for victims of discrimination to get to court and prove their cases. Alito’s decisions appear to be especially harsh in the areas of gender and race discrimination, where he has dissented from Third Circuit decisions and sought to make it much harder for victims of race and sex discrimination to prove discrimination.”

Day 9: race discrimination – HUGE – ideas needed

Day 10: gender discrimination – HUGE- ideas needed

Day 11: immigration/environment/workers rights? – ideas needed

Day 12: sending a photo of you/family/friends/neighbors to senators and the judiciary, “This is what America looks like. Reject Samuel Alito.”

Is it possible to do this?

I keep wanting to throw up my hands and say, “This is too much. It is too hard.”

But when I think of Alito on the court I can only think, “How can I not do this?”

(Promoted from the diaries, with minor edits, because I support this protest — Steven D)

This is a proposed plan to protest and ultimately prevent Samuel Alito from becoming a Supreme Court Justice.

Man Eegee described how we might do this in his diary:

Anatomy of a Cross-Blog Protest – Alito is Toast!:

Congress is scheduled to reconvene December 12th. They will be in session until they conclude current business. This may be a day or more.

The basic outline is to think of/create 12 actions, one for each day, beginning December 12th and concluding December 23rd. If Congress has recessed before the 23rd, any efforts/actions focused on them will be there upon their return, morphing into New Year greetings.

The “12 Days of Christmas” was the basis for the 12 days.

It has been suggested that actions be directed to a variety of organizations on the national and on the local level with the intention of activating as many people as possible.

The actual Senate Judiciary hearings are scheduled to begin on January 9th.

A tentative schedule with an idea. Additional ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

Humming in my head: On their first day back from recess I defended Justice by…

Day 1: Notifying by e-mail, fax, or snail mail each Senator (& Rep.?) that Alito is a danger to them.  BEWARE with a “Ghost of Christmas Future” from Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”

Why this action? From Roll Call to Steve Clemen’s, The Washington Note, to our Cedwyn:

“Some time ago, Jeffrey Rosen, a superb legal scholar, pointed out Alito’s dissent in a 1996 decision upholding the constitutionality of a law that banned the possession of machine guns. We are not talking handguns, rifles or even assault weapons. We’re talking machine guns.

Congress had passed the law in a reasonable and deliberate fashion. A genuine practitioner of judicial restraint would have allowed them a wide enough berth to do so. Alito’s colleagues did just that. But Alito used his own logic to call for its overturn, arguing that the possession of machine guns by private individuals had no economic activity associated with it, and that no real evidence existed that private possession of guns increased crime in a way that affected commerce — and thus Congress had no right to regulate it. That kind of judicial reasoning often is referred to as reflecting the “Constitution in Exile.”

Day 2: Contact Any and All Local Senior Citizens (phone/poster), informing them of Alito’s danger to them on 2 counts – Alito’s opinions on Discriminating Against Older Americans (From People for the American Way) and “his opinion on the Family Medical Leave Act. (From the Communications Workers of America)

Seniors vote and they are vocal. They have just been threatened by changes to Social Security and they just witnessed the Bush administrations incompetence with Hurricane Katrina.

Okay – thoughts and ideas?

Adding Alito to the Supreme Court terrifies me.

I feel a need to do something before the judicial hearings begin on January 7th. But what?
Congress returns on December 12th. They will remain in session till their work is concluded.

With a tip of the hat to “Antifa” for a diary written after the first “Fitzmas,” I was thinking of following “the Twelve Days of Christmas,” as I need something to lighten my fear.

“On their first day back from recess, I protested Alito by…”

December 23rd will be the 12th day. Perhaps a good day to stay home – no shopping.

But I am desperate for ideas. At this point I am not ready to do anything illegal.

What have you done? What are you planning to do? Do you know of any organized protests?

“People for the American Way,” which “JudiBrown” shared in a diary, has a petition to sign.

Thank you.

I don’t know if I can bear to watch the Alito judicial process follow the path of so many other appointments.
Here is the pattern: information about the person comes out on the blogs and it is explained and analyzed; as the proceedings near and/or even begin, there are calls to bloggers to contact congress members and committee members; during the proceedings there is live blogging with lots of comments about the lack of true questioning and the evasive nature of the answers given; there is dismay over which Dems cave in; there are more pleas to contact members of congress; and then there is the vote…

The vote is followed by more cries of how unreal/surreal all of this is. There is outrage and fear. Then there are discussions on what we need to do for the ’06 and ’08 elections.

Can we do it differently this time?

Congress listens to money. Can we use our places in the economic engine to make a difference?

What if those opposed to Alito didn’t go to work, nor work from home, on the first day the judiciary committee meets? What if we didn’t go to school or to any meetings or gatherings or appointments? What if we do not participate in any form of commerce? What if those who own retail places closed for the day?

And what would happen if all those who didn’t work, etc. contacted their congress member and explained why they weren’t working or participating in any commerce that day?

And what if these actions were repeated each day of the Alito’s hearings?

What are we willing to give up in order to stand up? Sick days or vacation days? Days without pay? Days without doing business? Days of missing classes?

Would this hurt? Is it time to do the things that might hurt personally?

Could it make a difference?

Alito threatens not only Roe v Wade, but our foundation – read Paul Rosenberg’s diary, “Alito Against Democracy.”

Alito’s appointment to the Supreme court needs to be stopped. I need to walk my talk – will you walk with me?