For Immediate Release: April 7, 2017
Contact: [email protected]
Following the confirmation of Judge Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, the People’s Defense released the following statement:
“Today is a sad day for all Americans, whose interests were given a backseat to partisan politics and our tainted president’s extreme agenda. The only way Senate Republicans were able to confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch for a seat on the Supreme Court was by choosing to blow up 200 years of Senate tradition and changing the rules in the middle of the game. They even knew that the majority of Americans—their constituents—strongly opposed Republican efforts to ram President Donald Trump’s nominee through the process with the nuclear option. But they didn’t care. Instead, they sided with Trump over their constituents and put a man on the court with a demonstrated record of dismissing the basic freedoms of all Americans. This follows nearly a year of blocking the nomination of Judge Merrick Garland for purely partisan reasons. They would be ashamed if that was an emotion they were capable of.
“Members of the People’s Defense marched in the streets, called their representatives, and protested at town halls in unprecedented fashion because they do not want a Supreme Court justice who will attack women’s rights, give a free pass to giant corporations at the expense of working people, and enshrine the Trump administration’s extreme and unconstitutional agenda. They know that Gorsuch was handpicked by Donald Trump to carry out this agenda. Many Senate Democrats rightfully gave a voice to shared fears about his record and the powerful interests pushing his nomination: from an administration under active FBI investigation to dark money groups that spent millions to keep the seat vacant and then chose Gorsuch to be their nominee.
“Americans will not forget the way senators voted this week to protect, or fail to protect, our basic freedoms. They will hold their elected officials accountable now and in the future if they failed to fight Trump’s attempt to corrupt the independence of the Supreme Court. They know that nothing less than the legacy of freedom and equality in our great nation is at stake.”
“The People’s Defense” is a massive grassroots campaign with actions planned in all 50 states to defeat Judge Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court. Joining the campaign, which has been organized by NARAL Pro-Choice America, are Indivisible, American Federation of Teachers, Center for American Progress Action Fund, CREDO Action, End Citizens United, EveryVoice, MoveOn.org Civic Action, People for the American Way, Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Service Employees International Union, and Stand Up America.
NARAL Pro-Choice America and its network of state affiliates are dedicated to protecting and expanding reproductive freedom for all Americans. NARAL works to guarantee that every woman has the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion. In recognition of its work defending our constitutional right to choose, Fortune Magazine described NARAL as “one of the top 10 advocacy groups in America.”
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