ActBlue

SNAP PAC is now listed on ActBlue. Another great way to make an online donation! (Thanks to Emily for helping us to get listed!

No free pass for Roberts

Last night I freaked out when Bush mentioned that he consulted with Sen. Leahy on the Roberts nomination. Did old Pat really give this guy a pass? Today, this:

"No one is entitled to a free pass to a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court," said Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, senior Democrat on the committee that will question the 50-year-old appeals court judge later this summer.

and this, in his email to Democracy for America listmembers:

The American people deserve a justice who understands and respects the views of all the people of this great nation. The Supreme Court belongs to all Americans, including the 49 percent who made a different choice for President. Now that a nominee has been chosen, the debate begins on whether Judge Roberts will be such a jurist. We all have a stake in this process -- and a responsibility to evaluate this nomination on the basis of the facts and the issues of vital importance to ordinary Americans everywhere.

I knew the guy would hang tough. (Vermont's congressional delegation always represents. He basicly sums up my opinion on wether this thing is worth a fight. We might not have a chance of Borking Roberts, but that does not mean that the Democrats should shut thier mouths, as some have suggested. So what if Roberts is not pure evil? The confirmation hearing will be a great chance to interogate the conservative worldview.

Speech Over

Update 9:11 PM: Boy that was a quick speech. Bush says he consulted with Specter and Leahy on this one, which is probably the first step towards getting a swift confirmation. I question Leahy's judgement on this one, since it looks like Roberts is might turn out to be a real radical, with leanings towards the "constitution in exile" movement, and an opponent of Roe v. Wade. I wonder what Pat said in that meeting.

John Roberts

American Constitution Society has some dirt on Roberts:

In Rancho Viejo, LLC v. Norton, 334 F.3d 1158 (D.C. Cir. 2003), Judge Roberts issued a dissent from the decision by D.C. Circuit not to hear en banc the ruling by a panel in this upholding the constitutionality of the Endangered Species Act as applied to a real estate development project in California. Roberts’s dissent suggested that the he thought the Endangered Species Act to be unconstitutional in as applied to these facts.

In Hedgepeth v. Wash. Metro. Area Transit Auth., 386 F.3d 1148 (D.C. Cir. 2004), Judge Roberts rejectinged the civil rights claims brought by a 12-year-old girl who had been handcuffed and arrested for eating a single french fry in the D.C. Metro. Roberts’ opinion rejected the claim that the girl’s equal protection rights had been violated. Under then-D.C. law, an adult in the same situation would only have been given a citation, while the police were required to arrest juveniles.

Judge Roberts' nomination to the D.C. Circuit was opposed by organizations concerned with his prior record. As a law student, Judge Roberts argued for an expansive reading of the Takings and Contracts Clauses, something which might suggest his sympathy towards the Constitution-in-Exile movement, a movement of political conservatives who favor reinterpreting the Constitution to strike down economic regulations.

I've always wondered about those signs in DC metro cars that says you're not alowed to eat. Jeez, this guy is a creep.

Bush Nomination Speech in 35 minutes

For lack of a TV, I'll be watching Bush's speech on the internet at the New York Times Site. Sign up with People for the American Way's Save the Court campaign, and the MoveOn Protect Our Rights campaign. Be sure to give them your cell phone number so that you can get up-to-the-minute text updates on the action. It's gonna be a rumble, and rapid response is critical.

The nominee: John Roberts.

I Love the FEC

Emily and I are in the midst of filing our mid-year funding report. It's about as much fun as eye surgery. Big kisses to the architects of our current campaign finance law.

Joe Trippi

I have had a minor obsession with the blogosphere for about a year, but I didn't really get religion about the potential for the internet to revitalize the domecratic process in this country until I read the book The Revolution Will Not be Televised: The Internet, Democracy, and the Overthrow of Everything. by Joe Trippi. Even when I was volunteering for the Dean Campaign, going to the meetups, thinking I understood the whole thing, I just didn't get it.

Trippi's book made me realize that the internet is where the action is. It helped me realize that a static website is not good enough, and that even in a relatively small organization like this one, there needs to be a dialogue amongst the supporters, organizers, friends, and campaigns that we strive to bring together. It's about dialogue, community, transparency, and placing trust in a bottom up, democratic campaign structure.

I'll write a lot more on these themes in this blog, but for now, thanks Joe, for helping me to get it.

The SNAP Blog

This is it, folks. A forum for discussion about SNAP and the community of people we hope to bring together. There are several different communities of people who will be involved in this project in some way. There's the six of us who started SNAP back in February. There's the hundred-odd interns who we hope to put in the field next summer. There's the donors. There's the candidates and campaigns. All of these people are going to make this thing happen. We are only loosely affiliated. Even the students who form the core of this organization are scattered accross various college campuses.

This is why the internet is great - because communities like this one exist despite geographical boundaries. We may not live in the same place, but we are united by the common goal and purpose of harnessing the passion of young poeple to take back the congress, and turn the country around.