All those on the list of
possible choices, says Sen. Elizabeth Warren, have "shown their
willingness to side with the wealthy and powerful over the rights of women,
workers, voters, and minorities."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren
(D-Mass.) is reiterating her
warnings about what's at stake with President Donald Trump picking his Supreme
Court nominee "off a pre-approved extremist list," while progressive
groups get ready to gather on
the courthouse steps in Washington, DC on Monday night to show they're ready
"to fight back."
Trump is expected to
make the announcement from the White House at 9pm about who he's chosen to fill
the seat left by the retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy.
In a Monday afternoon tweet,
Warren said that all those on the right-wing list have "shown their
willingness to side with the wealthy and powerful over the rights of women,
workers, voters, and minorities."
Given the stakes, more than a
dozen advocacy groups including Indivisible, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and the
Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights have organized a rally to
#SaveSCOTUS, with their action set to begin 30 minutes after Trump makes his
announcement.
The Supreme Court heading
further right, the groups state, will "ensure that Trump's extreme views
are imposed on our country not just for four or eight years, but for decades to
come. We can't sit back and let that happen." Their call-to-action adds:
During the campaign, Trump let
far-right groups create his list of potential Supreme Court nominees so he
could guarantee them that his nominees would overturn Roe v. Wade,
criminalize abortion, and punish women. The candidates they selected will vote
to gut the Affordable Care Act and take away healthcare from people with
pre-existing conditions. And candidates they selected would threaten Americans'
civil liberties by upholding discriminatory measures that will undermine LGBTQ
equality, make it harder for people of color to vote, make it more difficult
for people who have been discriminated against to have their day in court, and
even harder for workers to organize for better wages.
As the "Constitutionally-protected
right to safe and legal abortion has never faced a greater threat"—despite
American voters' overwhelming support for
it—reproductive rights groups are sounding the alarm and pointing to the
records of the two people who are reportedly the
top contenders—Judges Thomas Hardiman and Brett Kavanaugh.
Some groups are also
mobilizing to put pressure on Senate Democrats—with Senate Minority Leader
Chuck Schumer the target of a rally Monday evening in his homestate of New
York.
"Trump is committed to
placing an extreme ideologue on the court, who could endanger environmental
protections, overturn Roe v. Wade, and undermine protections for people
with pre-existing conditions," said Erich Pica, president of Friends of
the Earth.
"If the Senate confirms
Trump's nominee, we will be stuck with a court that sides with big corporations
over the American people," he continued. "The air we breathe, the
water we drink, and the future of our planet is at risk. Any senator who is
serious about protecting the environment and fighting climate change must vote
against confirmation. Senate Democrats must use everything in their power to
keep Trump's dangerous nominees off the Supreme Court."
