ShutDownDC to Senate Dems: “Shut Up and Pass Some Laws”
On August 30, in an unsigned opinion, the Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to a new Texas law that will impose devastating penalties on healthcare providers, family members and supporters who assist people in accessing abortions. In allowing the law to stand, the Court undermined 40 years of legal precedent and allowed individual vigilantes to effectively deputize themselves to target providers and supporters for personal gain.
Days after the decision we held a speak-out in front of the US Supreme Court. But the Justices didn’t hear us. They’ve been holding sessions remotely since the beginning of the pandemic. We don’t know when any of the Justices were last inside their chambers. In this ruling they acted to take away our on of our fundamental rights with an unsigned one-paragraph decision issued in the middle of the night.
To have a shot at having our voices heard, on September 13 we took our message to the place where the Court’s decisions are being made. Dozens of us marched to the home of Justice Brett Kavanaugh -- where the Court’s most anti-woman justice hears arguments and writes his opinions. We spoke out about what reproductive freedom means for us and for our families, and we implored Kavanaugh to keep his hands off our bodies (something he’s historically had a hard time doing around women).
We expected the reactionaries in the Republican Party to criticize our actions because they’re always trying to silence us. Earlier this year, Senator Josh Hawley and his wife went as far as risking being disbarred or brought up on perjury charges by lying about another one of our demonstrations in an affidavit. (The judge and Commonwealth Attorney in their home state of Virginia saw through their lies and dropped all of those charges.)
But earlier today Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee uncritically opined about our visit with the whataboutisms that we’ve come to expect from the GOP. During a hearing today, Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill) said, “When it comes to criminal trespass, we got a belly full of that on January 6th… I don’t care whether you’re right or left, that is unacceptable as far as I’m concerned in expressing your political feelings.”
A candlelight vigil or even an energetic home demonstration isn’t the same thing as storming the Capitol with weapons, perpetrating violent assaults and even getting people killed to try to overturn a democratic election. These false equivalences are unhelpful, and just days before the same murderous white supremacist mob returns to DC, they’re downright dangerous.
The truth is, if Durbin, Leahy and the Democratic majority in the US Senate did their jobs, we wouldn’t need to go to Brett Kavanaugh’s house. Congress should pass federal legislation protecting reproductive freedom for everyone in this country. But unfortunately, the political party that controls the House of Representatives, the US Senate, and the Presidency can’t even pass a special commission to investigate the January 6th insurrection, let alone protect voting rights, invest in infrastructure, confront climate change or any one of their purported priorities.
So today our message to Durbin, Leahy and their buddies in the Senate Democratic Caucus is, SHUT UP AND PASS SOME LAWS.
