March 8, 2017
Senators of the United States Senate
(see attached full list)
Re: Judge Neil Gorsuch
Ladies and Gentlemen:
One recent night, while watching a cable news network, I saw a warm and fuzzy TV commercial, the production values for which suggested it was a diaper ad. But, no– it was a TV commercial for…Neil Gorsuch.
A commercial for a Supreme Court nominee? Sure, I’d heard that pots of the usual dark money were working at getting Gorsuch confirmed. Silly me: I assumed that “work” was buying Senate votes, not TV commercials.
I don’t remember ever seeing a campaign commercial for a Supreme Court nominee. But, yes, there it was, and the New York Times confirmed who is paying for these ads: the Koch network, the National Rifle Association, Judicial Crisis Network, and leading evangelical and anti-abortion groups.
The Judicial Crisis Network went all-out to make sure Judge Merrick Garland did not receive a hearing from the Senate. And we all know who among you senators took their money to block the president’s responsible nomination.
So, Senators, this is a loud NO for Neil Gorsuch. The ads are appalling, wildly inappropriate and a sickening reminder of the awfulness of John Roberts’ Citizens United decision–which I understand Gorsuch would support. The promoters and financiers of these ads are anti-woman, anti-civil rights, anti-human and, thus, anti-American.
These are the creatures pushing to give Neil Gorsuch a lifetime seat on the court that has more power to affect our individual lives than any other government agency. The man who accepts this support is advertising his concordance with their destructive notions of American democracy.
If Neil Gorsuch actually had the integrity his supporters claim, he would have, should have rejected Donald Trump’s nomination. What sort of Supreme Court Justice would live his life with the permanent label “Donald Trump’s Judge” affixed to his robe?
The bizarre Trump presidency is so tainted I don’t believe it will survive its first term. You must not put a life-term justice nominated by this president on the Supreme Court. If you do, you risk debasing the Court as the final arbiter of applied law.
Worse, you risk further outraging a citizenry whose response to wrongful Supreme Court decisions will not simply be protest. It will be nullification.
Sincerely,
Naomi Fein