Women's Rights Groups Announce Joint Campaign to Block Alito

By Campbell Roth, Publications Coordinator

January 5, 2006

At a press conference on January 4, the National Organization for Women announced "Enraged and Engaged: Women's Campaign Against Alito," part of a joint campaign with the Feminist Majority Foundation and the National Congress of Black Women.

"From sexual harassment on the job, to equal opportunities in education, to harassment in the schools, to violence against women, this is a justice who would shift the balance of the Court in the wrong direction," said NOW President Kim Gandy," backed by student activists from across the country. Gandy also cited Alito's dangerous views on reproductive rights, birth control, gender and racial discrimination, and access to the courts.

The campaign is a broad grassroots effort by hundreds of students and community leaders, so far representing 35 states, who are traveling to Washington, D. C. to speak out during the next three weeks, and thousands more who will be organizing back home, to ensure that senators know what is at stake for women if Judge Samuel Alito is confirmed to the Supreme Court.

Gandy was joined at the press conference by Feminist Majority President Eleanor Smeal and National Congress of Black Women President E. Faye Williams, NOW's partners in this effort. The three organizations are also part of a larger coalition determined to block Alito from replacing retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.

The organizations have enlisted volunteers to meet with senators, call supporters in home states and be a major presence on Capitol Hill during Alito's confirmation hearings, set to begin on Jan. 9.

"By the time senators are ready to vote on the Alito nomination later this month, hundreds of volunteers will have worked tirelessly on Capitol Hill and thousands more in their home states, encouraging every senator, regardless of party, to take a stand for women's rights," Gandy said.

Many of the college students chose to come to Washington, D.C. during their break between semesters. One student, Laurie Paul of Wesleyan University in Connecticut, said she was happy for the chance to come to the capital and join the campaign.

"I decided to give up my winter vacation to work on this campaign because I think it's so important for us to block Alito's confirmation," Paul said. "As a U.S. citizen, as a woman, I feel it's my personal responsibility to do everything I can to help preserve civil rights and women's rights that we have worked so hard for."