April 4, 2017

This Is The Only Reason Dems Need To Filibuster Gorsuch

Jim Bourg/ZUMA

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From Rick Hasen:

“AMK” is Anthony McLeod Kennedy,1 the famous swing justice of the current Supreme Court lineup. And sure, this is a perfectly serviceable argument. If it floats your boat, go with it.

My own argument is a little different: Piss off, Republicans. You can keep whining about the 30-year-old rejection of Robert Bork forever—and I’m sure you will—but he got hearings and a fair vote. He was voted down because he was too extreme, and the next judge nominated by Reagan was approved 97-0 by a Democratic Senate. That was during an election year, by the way. You guys, by contrast, refused to even consider Merrick Garland because you didn’t want anyone nominated by Barack Obama to serve on the court. Just like you didn’t want anyone nominated by Barack Obama to serve on the Federal Circuit Court, so you filibustered all of his nominees.

You can make up all the ridiculous “traditions” you want, but everyone knows what you did. And no party with even a pretense of a spine would let you get away with it. So of course Democrats are going to filibuster Gorsuch and make you go nuclear. You’re going to do it anyway the first time you need to, and everyone knows it. So what’s the point of putting it off?

That’s it. That’s the only reason anyone needs. You took nuclear to the next level already, and it would be craven for Democrats to shrug and let you get away with it. You made this bed, now it’s yours to lie in.

1Yes, I had to look up his middle name.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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