** UPDATE: THIS ALERT IS NO LONGER ACTIVE **
Thanks to AFJ members, more than 33,000 messages were sent to Capitol Hill asking that the Senate hold final confirmation votes on the 21 judicial nominees who have been cleared by the Judiciary Committee. These urgently needed and well-qualified nominees are ready to serve in some of this nation's most overworked courtrooms, if only the Senate would schedule a simple yes-or-no vote.
But the Senate left town without finishing its business. According to The Hill newspaper, here's what happened over the weekend:
"Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Saturday afternoon blocked more than 50 judicial and executive branch nominees, demanding assurances that President Obama not make recess appointments during Christmas break... Republicans are wary of Obama appointing a director to the new agency tasked with implementing Wall Street reform during the congressional recess."With America's judicial vacancy crisis growing worse by the day, Senator McConnell blocked votes in order to protect the big corporations that caused our economic crisis.
Here's what we're going to do about it. Remember those 33,000 emails that have already been sent to Capitol Hill?
We want Senator McConnell to get just as many emails from everyday Americans who are fed up with the games, fed up with the gridlock, and fed up with McConnell's willingness to use our judicial system as a hostage in his political schemes. Let's all remind Senator McConnell that fair and functioning courts are vital to a healthy democracy.
