Call To Action
Call susceptible Republican senators once every day to remind them of their 2016 principle - that the national electorate should have a say on who sits on the Supreme Court when a vacancy is this close to the election. Click here for one possible call script.. Choose at least one from each group to focus on. Or rotate your calls among members of the group.
Support the organizations who are organizing this movement nationally and locally. Suggestions include:
Justice Ginsburg had a last wish and we can help make it come true.
“My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed,” Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s deathbed statement.
Now it is our/your responsibility to continue the struggle for justice. Today. That means organizing and campaigning for the principle that this Supreme Court vacancy should be appointed by the President elected this November and approved by the newly elected Senate.
From the moment Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016 Republican Senators refused to hold a vote on Barack Obama’s nominee to fill his vacancy on the Supreme Court. They said that it was too close to the election and the “people” should have a voice in Scalia’s replacement through their vote for President. You’ve probably read their clear statements that no nominee should move forward before the election. But in late September 2020 Mitch McConnell has declared he will force a Trump appointment through the process before the new Senate takes office regardless of the results of the election.
Everything that Ruth Bader Ginsburg fought for is under direct attack. If Trump and this Senate replace RBG, the rights and protections for women, men, LGBTQ people, consumers, small investors, seniors, children and, well, everyone could be reversed. Trump’s judges will protect the ongoing corruption of civil life and new laws intended to improve our lives will be uniformly struck down.
Two Republican senators - Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski - have already said that they support having the next President appoint RBG’s replacement. We need two more senators to vote with them. There are two groups of senators that should be the focus of our citizen lobbying efforts.
First, the senators who are facing a close election in November. Phone calls, donations to their opponents, and active participation in the campaigns against them will have an immediate effect on the national debate. They are: Lindsey Graham (South Carolina), Cory Gardner (Colorado), Tom Tillis (North Carolina), John Cornyn (Texas), Steve Daines (Montana), David Perdue (Georgia), Joni Ernst (Iowa), Dan Sullivan (Alaska) and Martha McSally (Arizona).
Second is a small group of Republican senators who are not up for election and are free to exercise independent judgement either because of their personal independence from the Republican machine or because they are retiring. These senators may respond to appeals to conscience and fairness - personal appeals via phone calls, letters to the editor and Facebook campaigns. They are: Mitt Romney (Utah), Pat Roberts (Kansas) and Chuck Grassley (Iowa).
The law can be complex, but this issue is simple: the next president should appoint the replacement for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. As Joyce Vance noted on Twitter, “We should honor the life of RBG, American hero, by refusing to give in, refusing to back down, fighting for the civil rights of all people and demanding our leaders honor the rule of law. This is our fight now.”