Posted on 07/06/2004 1:22:43 PM PDT by Gopher Broke
Note from People for the American Way....a LEFTWING GROUP.......
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Senate Will Vote Today on J. Leon Holmes - Call Your Senators Toll Free: 1-888-508-2974
As we wrote last week, your U.S. senators will vote today, July 6, on the nomination of J. Leon Holmes, a zealous opponent of reproductive freedom and women's equality whose inflammatory remarks on these subjects make him even less fit for confirmation to our federal courts.
We told you that there was a real opportunity to make Holmes the first Bush judicial nominee defeated by a bipartisan majority, and you seized it. Nearly 18,000 letters opposing Holmes' confirmation were sent to senators in the 72 hours after our first alert.
Today, it's time for step two: help generate as many phone calls as possible to your senators as they begin six hours of debate on Holmes, leading up to a vote sometime in the early evening today.
TAKE ACTION: Please call your senators toll free at 1-888-508-2974. This number will connect you with the Capitol Switchboard.
Urge both your senators to vote against the confirmation of J. Leon Holmes to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
Here's a sample message:
"I strongly urge that Sen. _____ vote against confirming J. Leon Holmes to a federal district court seat. Holmes' record of hostility toward women's reproductive freedom and equality, including his leadership of anti-choice organizations and his inflammatory attacks on pro-choice Americans, make him unfit to hold this powerful position."
Let us know that you are calling your senators at:
http://www.pfaw.org/go/callreport/
Calls to every senator can be made toll-free all day at the number above, so please urge your friends and family to join this massive grassroots outcry. Particularly needed are calls to the following senators who have shown at least some support for women's reproductive rights and equality:
Alaska - Sen. Ted Stevens and Sen. Lisa Murkowski
Florida - Sen. Bob Graham and Sen. Bill Nelson
Indiana - Sen. Evan Bayh
Louisiana - Sen. John Breaux and Sen. Mary Landrieu
Maine - Sen. Olympia Snowe and Sen. Susan Collins
Montana - Sen. Max Baucus
Nebraska - Sen. Ben Nelson
New Mexico - Sen. Jeff Bingaman
Pennsylvania - Sen. Arlen Specter
Rhode Island - Sen. Lincoln Chafee
South Carolina - Sen. Ernest "Fritz" Hollings
Texas - Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison
Virginia - Sen. John Warner
Based on his record, J. Leon Holmes should not be given a lifetime position interpreting the laws and precedents that protect women's rights and those of every American. His confirmation can be stopped with your continued help today.
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If you missed our first alert on Leon Holmes' nomination and the strong case for rejecting it, the text is copied below.
On July 6, your senators will vote on the federal district court nomination of J. Leon Holmes, who has been a zealous opponent of reproductive freedom and women's equality. Holmes' views are so extreme, in fact, that we have a real opportunity to defeat his confirmation on an up-or-down vote.*
Today, we're asking you to take the first action in a two-step activist effort on Holmes: e-mail letters to your senators and urge them both to vote against the confirmation of J. Leon Holmes to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
The second action will be a call-in day to the Senate on Tuesday, July 6. Look for an e-mail alert with the toll-free call-in number that morning.
Holmes' stated beliefs on a woman's right to choose and on women's roles in society call into grave question his understanding of and commitment to principles of constitutional law. Indeed, Holmes' record on these subjects would make it impossible for many to believe that they will receive a fair hearing in his court.
Holmes' record of anti-choice, anti-equality activism includes:
Served as president of Arkansas Right to Life and in leadership positions of other anti-choice groups that openly call for a complete reversal of Roe v. Wade.
Acted as legal counsel for anti-choice groups in several cases and defended an anti-choice activist accused of trespassing at a physician's clinic, arguing that his client was justified because he was trying to inform clinic visitors of the alleged harmful effects of abortion.
Co-authored an article claiming that "the wife is to subordinate herself to her husband" and that "to the extent we adopt the feminist principle that the distinction between the sexes is of no consequence...we are contributing to the culture of death." Adding more doubt about his ability to be a fair and impartial federal judge, Holmes frequently expresses his deep ideological hostility to women's rights and equality with inflammatory exaggerations. For instance, he has:
Compared pro-choice advocates to Nazis.
Written that abortion is "...the simplest issue this country has faced since slavery was made unconstitutional. And it deserves the same response."
Argued against rape exceptions to abortion bans by stating that "[C]oncern for rape victims is a red herring because conceptions from rape occur with approximately the same frequency as snowfall in Miami." (To the contrary, studies estimate that between 25,000 and 32,000 women each year become pregnant as a result of rape in the U.S.) After three-and-a-half years of unanimous, Republican rubber-stamp support for President Bush's court-packing plan, a few pro-choice Republican senators appear to have finally found a nominee worth closer scrutiny in Holmes. Even Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee - usually the most ardent defenders of Bush's nominees - were not unanimous in endorsing Holmes' confirmation. Instead, the nomination went to the floor without recommendation.
Write your senators and then spread the word to your friends. With your help today and next week, we can make Holmes' nomination another important milestone in our campaign against Bush's slate of right-wing ideologues - the first Bush judicial nominee rejected by a bipartisan Senate majority.
* In May, Senate Democrats agreed to an up-or-down vote on Holmes and 24 other Bush judicial nominees in exchange for Bush's promise to stop using recess appointments for the remainder of his term. Therefore, there is no possibility of a filibuster to block Holmes'
When are they going to vote?
FMCDH(BITS)
This man honors The Right to Life providing the mother's life isn't threatened and rape or incest was not involved - that is what the hoop-la is all about. John Kerry is pro-abortion period and these folks just love him. Call now and give J. Leon Holmes a thumbs up!
Judges, another reason to re-elect George W. Bush.
Arkansas Ping
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