It has never been more important, nor is it too soon, to urge the U.S. Senate to stand firm in protecting the Supreme Court and our nation’s civil liberties.
Yesterday, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy announced his retirement. Kennedy — nominated by President Reagan and confirmed in 1988 — has been a pivotal moderate swing vote on the court, enabling rulings that legalized same-sex marriage and preserved Roe v. Wade. Now it falls upon the Senate to decide on President Trump’s soon-expected nomination for a new justice to the court. We are in grave danger of the Religious Right locking in a theocratic, hard-right majority that could last most of our lifetimes. Already over the past few years, we’ve watched our government slowly shift from the secular democracy our nation was founded on toward a Christian theocracy. We must to do all that we can to resist this.
Tell your U.S. senators to refuse to hold confirmation hearings until after the new members of Congress elected in November are sworn in and to fight vigorously to oppose any Supreme Court nominee who is not committed to upholding the First Amendment and the separation of church and state and upholding Roe v. Wade, marriage equality and other civil liberties. It is not too early to take action on this. Given the gravity of this appointment, the next Supreme Court justice must be committed to defending this all-American principle, so essential for a true civil society.