Act Now to Stop Extremist Judges

GOP leaders in Congress are about to pull the trigger on the “nuclear option” that will change Senate rules and take away the right to block extremist judges from being appointed to lifetime positions on the federal courts.

These extremist judges will have the power to overrule workers’ rights, environmental protections and other laws that protect working families. Democrats have so far confirmed more than 95 percent of President Bush’s court nominees, but have stood firm against a handful of extreme judges. As a last resort, Democrats have invoked a filibuster to block their nominations. Now, GOP Senate leaders want to do away with the filibuster and give President Bush unlimited power to appoint the most extreme judges to the federal bench.

Federal judges have the power to rule on our union contracts, organizing rights, workplace safety laws, workers' compensation and more. It is vital that we protect a way to block the President’s most extreme nominations.

To end the use of judicial filibusters, Republicans would move to confirm one of President Bush’s most controversial nominees. Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist then would ask the chair, most likely Vice President Dick Cheney, to rule that filibusters cannot be used. That could happen on Tuesday, May 24, 2005.

Senators who disagree would try to overturn Cheney’s ruling, but they would need a majority, 51 votes, to prevail. That would take all Democratic Senators and a handful of moderate Republicans to do.

Please take a moment to call your Senators (202) 224-3121 or go to www.goiam.org to send them a message to uphold the rights of the minority party to block extreme actions of the majority party.