Progressives are pissed off but have no time to complain

The last forty-eight hours have been pretty bad ones for progressives. We’ve heard from many people that they are upset the DREAM Act failed to pass, and Leslie Southwick’s nomination to the Fifth Circuit is a done deal.

But we aren’t gonna sit around and feel bad (we already did that last night). Now its time to move on and gear up for the next battle. Which is….

You guessed it! Back to work saving our courts! These poor little courts are in big trouble. And its up to us (i.e., all of us) to do something about it.

What happens in the courts affects the lives of every person in the United States. It affects whether we can keep our air and water clean, our basic opportunities in life, and whether we can enforce our fundamental protections against racial discrimination.

The founders of this nation recognized that while the judicial branch of government may be the least democratic of the three branches, it is a necessary predicate for a true democracy. The judiciary is the branch of government that is designed to safeguard individual rights and liberties, and to protect the minority from the majority.  The judiciary is often the last resort for people in the U.S. who have been harmed by the actions of government and private actors.

Despite the importance of our federal courts, the last thirty years have marked a dangerous shift to the right.  As a result, the courts are increasingly unavailable for the average person to enforce rights. In many areas, the judiciary is adopting narrow conceptions of rights and, equally important, the enforceability of rights and the role of the courts, and we are all too often left with no available remedy for violations of civil rights.

That means the courthouse doors are closed to civil rights. And we've got to open them back up. Stat.

We intend to continue working with our partners to stop this civil rights rollback. And no little bumps along this unpaved, muddy, twisting, unlit, long road are going to stop us.

Comments

[Kia (TortDeform.Com)]

Amen Amen!