September 28, 2018

Voices of Anguish and Hope from the Supreme Court Protests Today

“I’m horrified. I’m absolutely horrified.”

Hundreds of protestors gathered at the steps of the Supreme Court on Friday, September 28, to protest the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.Kara Voght/Mother Jones

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Less than a block from the hearing room where the Senate Judiciary Committee was voting to send Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh to the full Senate for confirmation, hundreds of protestors rallied at the steps of the nation’s highest court to express their discontent with Trump’s SCOTUS pick. Kavanaugh made a second and explosive appearance before the committee yesterday after it heard the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford, a psychology professor who says Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when the two were in high school.

Survivors of sexual violence and their allies have erupted in outrage over Kavanaugh’s nomination since Ford’s allegation—and two others against the nominee—came to light. That fury boiled over after yesterday’s hearing, when Republican Senate Judiciary members did not indicate that Ford’s testimony did anything to change their minds about Kavanaugh’s qualifications for the court.

Outside the Supreme Court, women stood on a podium to share personal stories of sexual assault and lead the crowd in chants. At one point, folk singer and protest icon Joan Baez even stopped by to lead the group in “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around,” one of her classic protest songs from the civil rights movement. After the vote, the crowd organized into a march around the US Capitol.

I spoke with some of the women who had come to show solidarity with Ford. Here are their stories:

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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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