(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?
Love the first two days. Great points. The judicial philosophy that strips Congress of its power on Day 1 is excellent. The ramifiactions of Scalito-esque interpretations such as these would mean a return to an unregulated federal state. Touches all issues.
One procedural item — can the protest follow our representatives home for the holidays when they recess. Send two e-mails faxes. One to local office after recess and one to Washington so they get it again on return.
As for other days/issues, I haven’t done the research on Alito. But you have to have a day for his lacking ethics — where he swears to Congress that he will recuse himself from a specific case where he is conflicted, and then does the opposite. Both lying under oath and judging things where there may have been an appearance of impropriety. Maybe you can link that one with Scalia — A picture of him, Alito and Cheney all hunting together, with a caption about how cozy these justices and the administration (and corporations) are becoming — how can you have an independent judiciary when you are basically pals and business partners. A big no-no.
I assume you are saving the abortion issue for Dec. 23rd. I will try to do some more research in the days to come and find another day or two.
Good start you Internet activist you.
Thanks BJ!
I think sending two faxes, e-mails, etc. is very good.
As to saving abortion till the 23rd – I must confess I have been humming the tune of “12 days of Christmas” as I do this and I have Day 5 as “Protect Roe v. W-a-a-a-de.” But that is just in my head.
Thank you for your suggestions and ideas. I have more research put together. I will add in yours.
“Internet activist” – I’m rather amazed at where I find myself now.
Oh, I love the “proteeect Roe v. Wade” for five. Great.
To me, this is two issues: one is his reactionary views themselves; the other is him saying one thing to get a job, then later protesting that he only said that to get a job, so give him this job now. Slippery Sam! I’d think this second would resonate at least somewhat with anybody who’s looking at what he says “now” and thinking they like what they hear.
One day should be for his membership in CAP from Yale (?). That was an organization of alumni who were concerned about anyone who wasn’t white or who was male being admitted. Perhaps to college grads of those groups who were targeted.
Thanks!
Not surprising, I am finding Alito has made court decisions that reflect his earlier life positions.
It is frightening reading about Senators meeting with him and being “charmed.”
The “curtain” around him of being a “reasonable conservative without any agenda” just needs to be ripped away – before he is sitting on the Supreme Court.
Wasn’t that Princeton? Good call, TT!
Tampopo, I emailed an alternet article about that to the action committee group if you need details.
Yes – thank you.
Would Cabin the Elder consider drawing a “Ghost of Christmas” future?
I’ll ask him when he gets home from school. (I think he might be persuaded…)
It was indeed Princeton, thus the P in CAP. I had a brain lock when I was writing it.
Count me in!
Yeah! Thank you!
It is such a challenge doing this now. I know my “to do” list could be written on a roll of cash register tape, as could many others.
I just read, but can’t remember the source, an article on Alito and the importance of his dad, playing up the patriarchal touchy-feely angle. The commentary was that this is a “spin” needed cause recent info coming to light from Alito’s past is putting his nomination in trouble.
The places I am finding are all stressing contacting Senators and judiciary committee members. Oh, to add to and create a flood of faxes, e-mails, and snail mail…a kind of GOTProtesters.
Please feel free to add any ideas.
I read something on dKos about that, I believe. Maybe you could promote that one to day two — [singing] — “Two stories about his parents… Three-da-da-da-DAH! Four-da-da-da-DAH! Proteeect Roe v. Wade.” I love the tune.
A link in this diary has really messed up the page width on the whole blog. Can someone please fix it?
Hi. I just got on myself.
What can I do to fix it?
Appreciate specific instructions – thanks.
If sjct is right and it’s one of the links, just go to tiny.url.com and copy in the long link and it will create a much smaller link.
Fixed I hope
Thanks
Thank you.
Good diary. But it’s making my page impossibly wide.
is it this diary?
Should be fixed now.
Here’s a story about his meetings with Senators and claiming his father’s integrity for his own, just like george. I read that discussion on dKos but mostly remember people making Godfather references that Armando complained about, so we need to avoid that whole Italian mafia thing. The Republicans are corrupt enough, prejudice shouldn’t be needed to paint a good picture.
I like that ‘Slippery Sam’ – he admits he’ll say anything you want to hear to get the job.
i think we need to be at the stage of having a definite outline sketched out. i.e. are we in agreement on the format? have we picked which twelve issues to focus on? are we contacting a different group per issue? does this include senators? or are hititng all groups with all issues?
it might be useful to come up with a few format ideas and put it to a vote…like, are we actually doing the “12 days of christmas” thing, e.g. “on the 6th day of christmas, alito gave to me…abortions in an alley.” or maybe “alito took from me…” or is this a looser interpretation of the song?
i’m sorry, but my brain just can’t move forward on this without a framework in place. !@#$%& saturn!
not christmas…anyhoo
Thanks for your response and input.
Considering people’s time constraints and inclinations, probably a loose interpretation of 12 days, 12 Days for Justice.
I am going to write another diary with suggestions for Days 3 through 8, reasons and actions.
This is the sequence I am thinking about:
Day 3: Alito not recusing himself and his rational – this would be directed to Congress – issues of trust and more questionable ethics.
Day 4: Alito’s opinions on people with disabilities. Action directed to Congress and to local organizations.
Day 5: Alito’s challenge to Roe v. Wade. Actions directed to Congress.
Days 6 and 7 (these are Sat. and Sun.): Alito’s opinions on religion. Actions directed to local churches, temples, mosques, and “minority religious groups.”
Day 8: Alito’s membership in CAP with action directed to Congress and to local education unions/associations.
That leaves Days 9 – 12.
As far as logistics and organization, I am hoping to get people to volunteer to write letters and/or other materials for each day. Each day would be posted in a diary ready to be linked to the send out to possible blog connections – Man Eegee does his magic.
Could it be done by this Friday? I don’t know.
Everyone is busy. The motivation behind this is to get things happening before the Jan. 9th hearings begin. Notifying local community groups who will be affected by Alito and getting the word to Congress that Alito is a man to be watched.
Can it be done? I don’t know. I have never done anything like this. And Cedwyn, this was only my second diary – I am learning my computer and how to do this at the same time.
Any help woould be greatly appreciated!
Thanks so much for the links you have provided. I have been reading them as I piece this together.
alito facts from the other diary:
connecicut man found wikipedia’s entry:
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2005/12/2/03618/8560#72
the rabid support he’s received from the Wingnut<sup>TM</sup> Brigade, largely due to abortion:
http://cedwyn.blogspot.com/2005/11/we-knew-it-was-coming.html
several instances of his judicial activisim:
http://cedwyn.blogspot.com/2005/11/activist-alito.html
his proud membership in the white man’s privilege society…errr..i mean CAP:
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/11/alitos-was-member-of-club-with-nasty.html
his opposition to the idea of “one person, one vote,” i.e. reapportionment:
http://cedwyn.blogspot.com/2005/11/blog-round-up.html
“shoot first. don’t ask questions later”
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/12/3/224735/751
connecticut man also brought us PFAW’s review:
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2005/12/2/03618/8560#96
and save the courts has a kick-ass roundup:
http://www.savethecourt.org/site/c.mwK0JbNTJrF/b.1247711/k.68B3/A_Nomination_in_Trouble.htm
alito gave to me:
abortions in an alley
invasion of privacy (strip search story)
activist judiciary (clemons’ piece re: guns)
second class minorities (CAP)
diluted democracy (reapportionment)
police state impunity (shoot first)
a fundie theocracy (Religious Liberty and Church-State Separation from the PFAW piece)
is that too informal? what are we shooting for here?