Join me in the fight to stop the appointment of Bush’s latest disaster of a Supreme Court nominee, Samuel Alito, designed to appease the far right and roll back workers’ rights, civil rights, and women’s rights.
Subject: Rights at risk on the Supreme Court – time to speak out!
Hi, I just received an important message from MoveOn.org. Bush has caved to pressure from the far right and nominated Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. Alito is a notoriously radical judge who has attacked workers’ rights, womens’ rights and civil rights for years.
Please join me in signing the emergency petition to our Senators, asking them to stand up for us and block this nomination.
http://political.moveon.org/stopalito
Thanks!
Here are some highlights from MoveOn.org’s email on the topic:
Here’s a summary of just some of the core protections that Alito would threaten:
Basic Rights for Working Families
As a judge on the Appeals Court, Alito issued a ruling to gut the Family and Medical Leave Act, which guarantees most workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a loved one in an emergency. The Supreme Court effectively overturned that ruling in 2003—but if Alito were on the Supreme Court he would pose a grave threat to the basic rights of working families.
Civil Rights (in the workplace and beyond)
In separate cases, Alito wrote dissenting opinions that would have made it essentially impossible to prove employment discrimination based on race or disability. He was overruled and harshly criticized by his colleagues, but if he were on the Supreme Court he could turn back the clock on decades of progress in securing civil rights for minorities and the disabled.
A Woman’s Right to Choose
Alito’s judicial record and published views make him widely regarded as a sure vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. The extremist anti-abortion group Operation Rescue (who opposed Harriet Miers) responded to Alito’s nomination today by saying: “Roe’s days are numbered…We are trusting that we are now on the fast-track to derailing Roe v. Wade as the law of the land.”7 If Alito were on the Supreme Court, reproductive freedom would be in serious jeopardy.
Privacy and Civil Liberties
In one significant case, Alito wrote a dissenting oppinion that would have allowed an unauthorized strip search of a woman and her 10 year-old daughter, in their own home, without a warrant. Again, Alito was outvoted and strongly criticized by his fellow judges, but if he were to join Thomas and Scalia on the Supreme Court he would pose a grave threat to civil liberties and individual freedoms.
It’s pretty telling that only 13 hours after MoveOn.org sent its email about Alito, it’s already collected 196,496 signatures (78% of its 48-hour goal).
