Emergency Protest at Dick Durbin’s: No Kavanaugh!
Wednesday September 5
5pm – Belmont and Lake Shore Drive
Google map: https://goo.gl/maps/zFDZ7bZgmAs
With the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, the Trump/Pence regime is poised to impose an extreme and long-lasting transformation on the highest court in this country—a major leap in the consolidation of fascism. This is an emergency that requires an emergency response to STOP it; raising “concerns” and “objections” is not enough.
It’s not just that Kavanaugh would eviscerate a woman’s fundamental right to decide for herself whether or not to bear children—which would be reason enough for millions to rise in massive political revolt. With Kavanaugh making a fascist majority, the Supreme Court would be a rubber stamp to the whole Trump/Pence agenda: shredding the separation of church and state in favor of Christian fascism against women, LGBTQ people, science, and the environment; backing xenophobic ethnic cleansing of immigrants and terror against Black people to “Make America WHITE Again”; eviscerating civil liberties, the separation of powers, and the rule of law; unleashing even more vicious torture and military aggression against the people of the world.
The time to act is NOW—this appointment must be STOPPED!
Senate hearings on Trump’s nominee are currently planned to start Tuesday, September 4. Many are calling it illegitimate to even hold these hearings for a candidate nominated by Trump, who is now an unindicted criminal co-conspirator. Still, leading Democrats refuse to commit to enforce “no” votes from party members like Doug Jones—much less do anything to delay or shut down the hearings. In fact, just this past week, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D) even agreed to expedite confirmation of another 15 federal judges nominated by Trump, who has now put one in seven federal circuit court judges on the bench.
From “Democrats Just Confirmed Lots Of Trump’s Judges So They Could Skip Town”:
“Trading this many lifetime positions away for a couple days back home in the dead of August is a metaphor for how myopic the Democrats’ approach has been at this dark moment in history,” said Brian Fallon, who should know since he was previously Schumer’s chief spokesperson.
“An entire branch of government is being lost for generations, and Senate Democrats are willfully blind to it,” Fallon said. “In the coming months and years, these same Democrats will issue outraged statements about the rulings issued by the very judges that they could not be bothered to try to slow down. It is pathetic.”
Here in Chicago, Dick Durbin, the second most powerful Democrat in the Senate, has not even said he will oppose Kavanaugh. He says it would be a mistake to boycott the hearings, and he provided cover for this illegitimate nominee when he recently repeated Kavanaugh’s false claims about his “amended views” on whether presidents are subject to the rule of law. Although Durbin talks about how we’re in a brewing constitutional crisis, he and other leaders of the so-called opposition party say that impeachment is off the table, not because they don’t have a majority, but because it must be bipartisan—an impossibility because the Republican Party has essentially transformed into Trump’s party.
People demonstrated in all 50 states on August 26 demanding NO KAVANAUGH – the largest groundswell of opposition to a SCOTUS nominee in history. And yet the Senate hearings are going forward! Pretending this is a normal situation is complicity with the consolidation of fascism and will wreak real havoc with people’s lives. Thinking that the much-hyped “blue wave” in November is the answer, long after Kavanaugh is on the Supreme Court for life, is a deadly illusion. All this is happening now, in September, and now is a time for moral clarity and righteous action.
Join us to protest at Lake Shore Drive and Belmont on Wednesday, September 5 at 5pm. We will march to Dick Durbin’s Chicago residence at 3430 N. Lake Shore Drive to respond to this emergency.
WE DEMAND: NO CONFIRMATION OF KAVANAUGH!
WE DEMAND: NO MORE COLLABORATION WITH FASCISTS!
WE DEMAND: THE TRUMP/PENCE REGIME MUST GO!