Chop Wood, Carry Water 5/24
We can do this.
Hi, all, and happy Friday!
I’m so happy this week is over. If I never hear the words “Supreme Court” and “corruption” in the same sentence again it’ll be too soon.
But of course I will hear them, and so will you, because I’ve got two great Supreme Court-related actions below! Better yet, both come from subscribers! One gives you the opportunity to register a formal complaint against Samuel Alito, and the other enables you to send a beautifully expressed letter to Chief Justice Roberts about why he should ask both Thomas and Alito to resign. Bravo!
In other news, let me clarify something I said yesterday: I have no intention of starting a video-only newsletter INSTEAD of this one. Absolutely not! I was merely talking about a separate and more occasional thing as a side option, if you will. And I’m not even sure yet that I’ll do it. In the meantime, several of you did say you wished I put my content somewhere other than TikTok. I do! It’s on both Youtube and Instagram as well. I believe on YouTube you can subscribe and then, if your notifications are turned on, get an alert whenever I post.
Anyway. I know everything is awful and feels insurmountable right now. Let’s remember, though: feelings aren’t facts. We’ve felt despair many times before and later learned that it wasn’t quite—or at all—warranted. We’ve felt like we were losing elections that we ended up winning. We’ve been certain MAGAs were going to do horrifying things that they ended up not doing. We’ve thought the worst would happen on Supreme Court cases that ended up going our way. That’s not to say that loads of awful things haven’t happened, of course. They absolutely have. It’s simply to say that a good deal of what we fear doesn’t actually come to pass, and the bad stuff that does come to pass we usually don’t even see coming. So why spend time worrying?
Instead let’s do what we can—and all we can—to save, nurture, and rebuild our democracy. It’s the best we can do; it’s the right thing to do, and past experience indicates that if we all do it we’ll succeed. Even if we feel that we won’t.
I believe in you more than you can ever know. So let’s get to work one more time.
P.S. — I have just been invited to come to DC to attend a Senate committee hearing on Reproductive Health in the first week of June. Exciting! I don’t yet know if I will make the trip as I would have to pay my own way there, but if any of you are familiar with DC and can recommend an affordable place to stay overnight I’d love to know about it in case I take the plunge. Thanks!
Call Your Senators (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is ______.
I just found out that Louisiana is going to make possession of abortion medication without a prescription a felony. This is unconscionable. I want the Senate to pass S. 701 the Women’s Health Protection Act and restore women to full citizenship with bodily autonomy right away. Lives are at stake and it is high time our elected officials behaved that way. [H/T
][If GOP add:] I will also be watching the Senator’s vote on S. 4381, the Right to Contraception Act next week. I expect him/her to vote yes. Not doing so will guarantee that s/he loses my vote forever. Thanks.
Call Your House Rep (find yours here) 📲
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.
I just found out that Louisiana is going to make possession of abortion medication without a prescription a felony. This is unconscionable. I want the House to pass H.R. 12 the Women’s Health Protection Act and restore women to full citizenship with bodily autonomy. Lives are at stake and it is high time our elected officials behaved that way. I also want the Congressmember to support H.R. 4121, the Right to Contraception Act.
[If GOP add:] I am watching the Congressmember closely on this. I will be a single issue voter in November, and that issue is reproductive healthcare. Please let him/her know. Thanks.
Extra Credit ✅
One of my subscribers has made it easy to file a formal complaint against Justice Alito! Thank you to Alden H. for this incredible work!
From Alden:
Recent news coverage has demonstrated that Justice Alito has abandoned all pretense of being an unbiased arbiter of justice. First it was revealed that the American flag was flown upside-down outside his home for several days after the January 6 insurrection. Since then it has also been documented that Alito has flown the “Appeal to Heaven” flag at his vacation home. This flag represents the Christian Nationalist movement.
All of this goes against the essence of the oath of office that Justice Alito swore when he entered the Supreme Court, namely to adjudicate the cases before him without bias. It is simply not possible to be unbiased while being willing to publicly associate oneself with a symbol of a movement that is antithetical to the principles of our Constitution.
By filing an official complaint regarding his actions which demonstrate his unsuitability to rule on any matter concerning the insurrection, we can make our voices heard by the Chief Justice and the other members of the court.
Filing the complaint is simple: fill in your personal information in the complaint form, print the three pages, sign it, and send it to the Clerk of the Supreme Court. The form and instructions are available for download on www.dumpalito.com.
I’ve downloaded and printed mine and will be mailing it today—plus a copy to Dick Durbin for good measure! Join me?
Get Smart! 📚
A minority of Americans is now set on thwarting the will of the people through voter suppression, gerrymandering, and even election subversion. In his new book, Minority Rule: The Right-Wing Attack on the Will of the People — and the Fight to Resist It, voting rights reporter Ari Berman charts the rise of this antidemocracy movement in the face of the country’s significant demographic and political shifts.
On Thursday, May 30, 3–4 p.m. ET join the Brennan Center for Justice for a virtual discussion with Berman and former West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie Tennant about how reactionary conservatives have capitalized on structural inequalities in our institutions, as well as the pro-democracy movement striving against these regressive efforts.
Spread the Word! 📣
Another great ad from Team Biden, this one narrated by Robert DeNiro! Please share! Your caption could be:
After 4 years of chaos – from suggesting Americans inject themselves with bleach to tear-gassing peaceful protestors outside of the White House to appointing the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade – Trump tried & failed to cling to power and is now running a campaign of revenge & retribution, promising to be a dictator on “day one,” saying he’ll “terminate” the Constitution, & threatening a “bloodbath” if he loses in November.
Vote accordingly.
Win Races! 🗳
Black Voters Matter has been using textbanking to engage voters across the country around issues that matter: environmental justice, healthcare, voter suppression, and more.
Join them weekly on TUESDAYS at 6pm ET/5pm CT as they continue to build power across the country. Invite a friend to join you!
Resistbot Letter (new to Resistbot? Go here! And then here.) 💻
[To: Chief Justice Roberts] [Text SIGN PXPHNF to Resistbot at 50409 or via Apple Messages / WHATSAPP / MESSENGER]
[Special thanks to subscriber Bob Morgan, who posted this letter to Chief Justice Roberts in his Substack yesterday and agreed to let me turn it into a Resistbot so we could ALL send it! If you prefer to write your own letter to Roberts just text COURT to 50409 and go for it!]
The integrity of the Supreme Court is supposed to be a bulwark against abuse of power of the other branches of our government and attacks upon the Constitution. Until the Court was thrown out of balance by Donald Trump with the appointment of three justices, two of which were appointed under questionable circumstances, I never questioned the integrity of it. Now, with the ethical lapses of two of its long-serving members, and the derogation of the principle of settled law, I’m finding my confidence shaken.
Last year, in response to criticism of the Court for not having a code of ethics, the Justices passed a Code of Conduct based on common sense, prior practice, and common law ethics rules. However, it is little more than a fig leaf, as it is rife with “should” and “may,” which reduce the canons to mere recommendations. Canon 3.B. says, “A Justice should disqualify himself or herself in a proceeding in which the Justice’s impartiality might reasonably be questioned, that is, where an unbiased and reasonable person who is aware of all relevant circumstances would doubt that the Justice could fairly discharge his or her duties.” I consider myself to be an “unbiased and reasonable person who is aware of all relevant circumstances,” and I question the impartiality of Justices Alito and Thomas. If Canon 3.B. had any effect at all, Justices Alito and Thomas would have recused themselves from any cases regarding Donald Trump.
I believe that Justices Alito and Thomas have failed to live up to any semblance of ethical behavior. Not only have their poor judgment and lack of personal integrity been brought to the fore by their apparent tacit approval of their wives’ political actions, but the revelations of lavish trips and accommodations paid for by people and entities with cases before the Court at the very least bear the bold appearance of impropriety. The continuing presence of these two Justices on the Court diminishes the Court’s objectivity and integrity.
I respectfully request that you recommend that Justices Alito and Thomas retire from their positions as Supreme Court Justices. They could perhaps do so without incurring further scrutiny of their actions, and could put the criticism of the Court for coddling them to rest. The vacancies they would create would allow President Biden to appoint two new Justices, thereby rebalancing the Court and obviating the need to do so by expanding it.
The Supreme Court is far too critical to our democracy to allow it to fall victim to outside influences. As Chief Justice, your legacy is important also, and you should be guided by what you want it to be. Associate Justices who put their own interests ahead of the Court’s are not only tarnishing that legacy, but more consequentially, they’re causing irreparable harm to the institution and our nation.
OK, you did it again! You helped save democracy! You’re amazing.
Talk soon.
Jess
Thanks for the special mention, Jess! I hope we flood the Supreme Court with our messages!
We should make #"Supreme Court of Corruption" a new hashtag. It's both succinct and accurate.