NOW Action Center and Grassroots Lead Fight to Uphold Filibuster

By Jenny Thalheimer, Press Secretary and Lisa Weiner-Mahfuz, Senior Field Organizer

May 20, 2005    |    Take action NOW!

NOW Action Vice President Olga Vives (center) and staff deliver petitions with thousands of signatures to Capitol Hill.

NOW Action Center staff and activists across the country are pulling out all the stops to oppose the Republicans' threatened "nuclear option" and their effort to stack the federal courts with right-wing zealots. The battle for judicial nominees is critical to the preservation of our rights in a future Supreme Court. If the right wing succeeds in abolishing the filibuster and confirming extremist judges, the status of abortion, civil rights and the separation of church and state will be in danger for decades to come.

As the current battle heated up, NOW consistently informed the public and mobilized our members through numerous action alerts, web stories and news releases. On May 4, NOW launched a grassroots lobbying campaign targeting 15 states represented by senators who have yet to say publicly whether or not they will support Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's attempt to "go nuclear" and banish the filibuster. Constituents are lobbying their Senators in Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Delaware, Louisiana, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Rhode Island and South Dakota, urging them not to "blow up" the senate. Activists are using NOW's toolkit, which includes an action alert, petition, flyer, press statement, email and background information on the "nuclear option."

This week the Senate took up the nomination of ultra-conservative nominee Priscilla Owen, and NOW participated in many high-profile events including a women's press conference in the Capitol. NOW President Kim Gandy stood with Senators Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., as well as many Democratic women leaders and several prominent heads of women's organizations to denounce the Republican effort to abolish the filibuster.

On May 19, NOW Action Vice President Olga Vives, Political Director Linda Berg and Senior Field Organizer Lisa Weiner-Mahfuz delivered hundreds of petitions with thousands of signatures to 14 Senators who remained undecided. In a press statement Gandy said: "NOW's strong, grassroots lobby has been out in full force, tackling fence-sitting Senators, letting our legislators know that 'blowing up the Senate' is not the right option. This juggernaut must be stopped - because the fallout for us and for our children would be unthinkable."

The People's Filibuster on May 19: New York NOW activist Mary Lou Greenberg (left) distributes information while attorney Johannes Williams filibusters in front of the Capitol.

NOW Action Center staff members are intensely involved with our allies, attending weekly policy and grassroots action meetings as well as developing press strategy and outreach. Working together, NOW and a broad coalition of progressive groups are expanding our ability to keep activists up-to-date and make our message heard on the threat of the "nuclear option."

Additionally, state presidents and chapter leaders all over the country have signed onto dozens and dozens of letters to members of Congress and newspapers and become an integral part of many grassroots coalitions that have emerged over the past four months. PBS host David Brancaccio talks about our effective grassroots targeting campaign in a show titled, "Judgement Day: The Battle Over Judicial Nominees." PBS's NOW (the show's title is unrelated to the National Organization for Women) may show in your area, and the archives are available online.

The battle over judicial nominees is not over. Please continue to contact your senators and encourage them to stand up against the right wing and preserve our rights. No compromise is acceptable that allows any of the extremist judicial nominees to be confirmed. Together we will make sure that our hard-fought rights do not go up in smoke.

Take action NOW!

More information from NOW on Our Courts at Risk.