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| J Scott Applewhite, __AP_Senate_Supreme_Court. "We Dissent" written on her hands. |
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| Babs and i with "We Dissent" written on our hands. No one could see it, but the words got me thrown out. With three police grabbing me, I screamed: " 'This is about democracy, not the mafia. you were appointed by a criminal. don't do his business." |
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| Babs & Ben on their way to Kavanaugh hearing. We want all of you to help #stopkavanaugh |
Just a quiet day in Washington before three police pulled me out of the room with less gentleness than I would have wanted.
I think the first time I really started
thinking about policy and activism was in the fall of 1987 during government
class my senior year in high school. Sue Roman asked that we read the daily papers and pay attention to current events. When I opened the paper I saw an article
about an opening on the highest court.
The nominee, Robert Bork, was supported by President Reagan. But Teddy Kennedy and the Democrats who were
in charge, were concerned that Bork was too right wing. Reagan already had two appointments on the
Court. This third would tilt the balance
of the courts. Kennedy famously
described what was at stake with this nominee:
“Robert Bork's America is a land in which women
would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch
counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in midnight raids, and
schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could
be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts
would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens.”
Bork was eventually rejected after months of
hearings. And a more moderate voice,
Anthony Kennedy was appointed. Over the
next three decades, Kennedy was a swing vote on the court, supporting gay
rights, reproductive autonomy, marriage equality, and healthcare.
Over the years, the moderate positions of two
of Reagan’s three appointments, of one of Bush’s appointments, helped maintain a
vital center in the court. That’s now
disappearing. GW Bush appointed a hard
liner to replace Sandra Day OConnor. And
Trump is doing the same with Kennedy.
And the acrimony on the court remains. Conservatives were incensed that Bork was
rejected by the senate. And liberals
were equally vexed that President Obama’s third nominee for the nation’s
highest court was denied even a hearing.
When Bork’s nomination was rejected he called
for a full hearing and senate vote arguing:
“There should be a full debate and a final
Senate decision. In deciding on this course, I harbor no illusions. But a crucial
principle is at stake. That principle is the way we select the men and women
who guard the liberties of all the American people. That should not be done
through public campaigns of distortion. If I withdraw now, that campaign would
be seen as a success, and it would be mounted against future nominees. For the
sake of the Federal judiciary and the American people, that must not happen.
The deliberative process must be restored.
And a hearing and a vote he received. Merrick
Garland would not enjoy the same treatment. Trump’s appointment to the courts
went as far as to praise Merrick Garland, Obama’s rejected nominee, in his
opening statements on September 4th, during his nomination hearings.
Mitch McConnell and the republicans have done
away with the filibuster which used to moderate court appointments.
So democrats and opposition groups have little
choice but to disrupt the proceedings.
The first day of the Kavanaugh hearings, 70 activists, many priests,
clergy, and healthcare activists, were arrested. And the democrats attempted to slow down the
hearings, protesting over 42000 pages of documents they only received the night
before the hearings. The next day, the disruptions continued during the second
day of the hearings.
Soon after the Kavanaugh hearings were
scheduled, the Center for Popular Democracy Action worked with other advocacy
groups, including the Women's March, Ultraviolet and NARAL, to urge supporters
to flood the capital, Epps-Addison said.
"Once we knew the hearings were going to
happen, we started putting out a call through our networks, and regular folks
who know the impact this will have on their lives started raising their hands
and saying, 'I’m coming,'" Epps-Addison said. "We’ve had people
carpooling and caravanning to get here."
Rachel O'Leary Carmona, chief operating officer
of the Women's March, confirmed that her group had coordinated a plan to
disrupt the hearings. That included offering lodging to traveling
protesters and "jail and bail support" if necessary.
"Folks realize we’re at an inflection
point as a country," she said. "The disruptions will continue all
week, and the escalated tactics, as it pertains to this hearing, are not an
isolated incident."
My friend Paul works with Housing Works and the
Center for Popular Democracy. When
I saw him in August in DC, he told me about the plans for the battle over
the hearings:
Here's what the fight for the ACA taught us
last year: WHEN WE UNITE, WE WIN! Republicans are pushing hard to confirm Brett
Kavanaugh fast -- even before his records from his time in the Bush
administration are released -- because they know that he's dangerously
right-wing and out of step with the American people. Confirmation hearings
begin September 4, and we're going to stand up and fight for health care,
reproductive justice, for marriage equality, for workplace and environmental
laws, against dark money in politics, and for a fairer, more equitable Court
that reflects modern law and the will of country. JOIN FOR ANY OR ALL DAYS.
BRING YOUR SQUAD AND SAVE OUR COURT! #BrettBye # DefendRoe #WomenDisobey
After word about the first day’s hearings got
out, our president did his best to confirm his reputation as a fan of
authoritarian thinking, declaring that protests should be illegal.
“I don’t know why they don’t take care of a
situation like that,” Trump said. “I think it’s embarrassing for the country to
allow protesters. You don’t even know what side the protesters are on…In the
old days, we used to throw them out. Today, I guess they just keep screaming.”
The theme would continue all day, with Bob
Woodward and even members of his own staff suggesting the president is more of
a supporter of autocratic leaders than democratic traditions. He is in the
midst of a constitutional crisis which is eroding our democratic
institutions. And this is certainly not
a time for him to nominating people to the country’s highest courts.
While many of my friends took the bus to DC on
Monday, I had policy class on Tuesday night.
So I stayed in town and left for DC the next day at 3 AM to get in line
for the 930 AM hearings.
My friend Barbara joined me, coming straight
from a trip abroad.
Driving through the night, we chatted and
listened to old Wings CD’s, Silly Love Songs, getting ready.
Arriving in DC, Babs and I walked over to the
Senate Office Building where activists were lined up at First and C.
“Good,” texted Jennifer Flynn, when I told her I
was coming. Paul, Michael and all the
Center for Popular Democracy folks were there.
The first wave of activists to go inside was upfront.
Babs and I talked about things we’d say if got
into the hearings:
“This is a sham!” ?
“You have like five seconds to scream what you
have to say,” noted Sarah, of the Women’s March Wisconsin.
She was drawing, “We Dissent” on peoples’
hands. “Vote No!”
The day before she had been one of the 70
people arrested inside, declaring:
“Senators, I demand you vote no. You don’t have what you need to make up your
decision. Do your job. This hearing is a sham.” She paused. “Or something like that.”
How about: “No Garland No Peace!”
That’s good, she followed.
But it’s a little esoteric.
Standing in line we talked about Kennedy, who
was appointed when I was in high school.
“My grandkids are going to have less rights
than I do,” noted a young woman standing in line with us.
I don’t see women going back. I just don’t.
“Whenever you hear someone talking about what
we should do if it got to… tell em it has gotten to that. Kids are being deported. US citizens are losing their rights, being
departed.”
Standing there, Michael Kink walked up to us.
“The majority do not want Kavanaugh,” he
explained. “He’s at a 38% approval rating.
He could not run for office with that.
I asked him why he was here. Obviously because of his support for
women. But he conceded: “I’m from
Chicago. Its very familiar. You see mob bosses caught up in the law. They
try to fix their cases. This is the corrupt mob boss trying to influence his
own trial, like the Gambino crime family.
That’s what Trumps doing. It took
Bush three years to get him approved.
He’s not comfortable answering questions. He’s going to do Trump’s work.”
Standing there, the line started to move. Those committing civil disobedience formed
groups. And slowly, we made our way
inside for the hearing.
A group of women dressed like the slaves in the
Handmaid’s tale lined up in front of the court room, highlighting what kind of dystopian
world we could live in if women no longer had control of their bodies. It’s a blurry
odd world we live in now. “I don’t want to look at something that determines me
so completely,” wrote Margaret Atwood.
Standing in line to go into the hearing
reporters were mulling about. I practice
my soundbite.
Christine Ingles was standing by me. We’ve been through these actions before. She recalled the actions before the tax overhaul
vote last winter. “I saw the Sargent at Arms walking up to us. ‘There are other
ways to do this,’ he said to us as we started protesting the vote. Like what I said. We’re written letters, lobbied, everything. We have every right to be there. This hall is because Dolley Madison wanted us
to be able to talk to our senators.” Our
conversation pivoted to Kavanaugh. “When
asked about what’s most important to him, he said: ‘Family, bible and the
constitution.’ We’re a secular
country. There is a reason for
that. The Churches of England and France
were too powerful. Pence is putting up
people who want religion over the constitution.
This is his dream. The country’s
institutions are being dismembered one by one – the EPA, HUD, and now the
courts – one at a time.”
We started to walk into the hearing room. Looking around Grassley and Kavanaugh were
talking. Reporters were everywhere. And
we put our hands up in the air showing the words, ‘we dissent.’
Within a few seconds, three police grabbed me
declaring, 'you are arrested'. I started to bellow: 'This is about democracy,
not the mafia. you were appointed by a criminal. Don’t do his business.' before
it was over they had pulled me out of there, coming close to throwing me to the
ground.
Out in the hall, I heard others screaming. And
more commotion.
“You are gaslighting the American people,”
screamed Marie Well, of Nevada.
“I’m a veteran and a healthcare voter,” Eric Gosh
declared as he was being pulled out.
“Defeat Kavanaugh, Save democracy,” screamed Melinda,
arrested now for the second day in a row.
“Save Roe, vote No!” Sarah Wolf from Berkeley
declared, as she was shoved out of the room. (See picture on the top of this blog.)
We spent the next two hours with handcuffs on.
You were good a couple of women pointed out, smiling.
Was I loud enough?
Yes.
I talked with people from all over the country
who had come to make sure their voices were heard, who worried about our tilt
to the right.
We talked about what might happen if Roe is
overturned.
The decision will go to the states. But that’s not Roe, noted Wolf, weary that
poorer women would have less access to contraceptives and family planning, with
criminalization of poverty increasing and access to healthcare decreasing, especially
if the Texas case moves to a newly rightward tilting supreme court.
My friend Barbara was eventually let out of
jail. Senator Durbin was questioning Kavanaugh about his inconsistent answers as we drove home. Some would call this perjury. And an anonymous White House staffer posted a letter to the NewYork Times declaring the president “erratic” and “amoral.” Now this president is nominating judges for
lifetime posts. No wonder the hearings are
a bit chaotic.
We’re just a vote or two away from stopping this.
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