I am re-printing this diary from several years ago – Now that it as been leaked that the radical new majority is indeed going to go ahead and ban abortion – on grounds that give the conservatives ammunition to go after gay marriage and contraception – it is More Important Than Ever that you Write Letters to the Supreme Court.
When first published, many ot the comments were highly dismissive of the effort – “they'll never see it,” Nobody will ever read it,” “They aren't going to care.” Well, clearly the radical justices don't care at all – which is why it may be good for YOUR mental health just the tell the #*&$@* 'ers what you think about them.
If you feel poorly about how the Supreme Court of the United States has now become a part of the Republican Party machine of dominance-at-any-cost, why not write them one or more letters and tell them about it ?
This diary is specifically meant for all of you who make comments about how “Trump will never ace justice” or how”there is no real justice in America” or “no rich person ever goes to prison.” It's time to tell the people who are doing the Wrong Things, “We see what you're doing,” “We don't like it”and “You need to Stop It, Now !”
Yes, just like to your Congresspersons or to your President, you can write letters to the nine judges who sit on the Supreme Court …including the five who appear to be poised to make the most exalted judicial body in the land into an element in the power calculations of one particular political party.
The address is
(name of Justice or Justices)
Supreme Court of the United States
1 First St., NE
Washington DC 20513
And remember it is part of Modern Conservatism's strategy to keep us off-balance, confused, overwhelmed. So if your tech media travels are getting you depressed, something like writing a physical paper letter expressing your frustrations to a Supreme Court justice will at least have the effect of helping you walk the tightrope of modern life. (Note: postal workers do take offense at the term “snail mail,” their work has literally been wrapped in right-wing red tape passed by Congress back under Bush II at the urging of UPS and FedEx’s lobbyists).
Some thoughts: Of course, it is extremely unlikely that any Justice will read your letter … yet hopefully, a very, very, large number of them will have some effect on the clerks and their conversations and their culture and their willingness to become totally shameless political tools.
My mom didn’t always practice it, but she told me many times that “you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar;” for our purposes, a better way of putting it might be “you make more friends when you play nice.” You can do what you want in your letter, but I would absolutely avoid bad language and sarcastic name-calling. Work on putting your put-downs in polite, formal language, asking questions: “Do you really wish for your Supreme Court to be regarded as a bunch of shameless political hacks?”
Some Themes I like: the concerned citizen, questioning and expressing sadness at how their decisions are harming 1) actual Americans like you and people you know, 2) America as a whole, and 3) the American ideals of democracy and the rule of law.
I do like the Rule of Law theme, especially in regards to Trump’s refusal of Congressional oversight and subpoena, and the Jan 6th insurrection cases and voting rights cases that may becoming their way. Conservatives have lived on this theme in high-minded essays for 150 years, let’s rub it in their faces. “Are you really prepared to allow the previous President to accept Russian help and refuse Congressional oversight? Are you really willing to destroy the Rule of Law to help a hateful, divisive political party that is largely supporting the most ignorant, most bigoted, most unqualified man ever to hold the Presidency?”
I do recommend getting into the details of any area of policy that you care deeply about, let’s let them know on just how many issues they are failing us. Otherwise keep it more general and focused on the damage that the abortion decision will indeed do to actual living, breathing women, the physical and emotional damage and social chaos that will result if they now go ahead against gay rights and gay marriage, Trump’s refusal of Congressional oversight, ordering his officials to break the law, lying about doing business with Russia while campaigning for President, and Trump’s habit of severely criticizing judges and law enforcement officials.,and how hypocritical the Justices will appear, and how greatly their historical reputations will be disgraced, if they ignore how blatantly the previous President failed to “take Care that the Laws shall be faithfully executed.”
And please, go heavy on the conservatives on gerrymandering and voting rights. Their opinion that “we can't do anything about gerrymandering” is in fact an attack on actual voting rights of actual citizens, and apparently they are already showing great favoritism to the Republican party, interpreting a rule one way in one case, and interpreting the same rule the opposite way in another case, just a week or two later – all to the benefit of Republicans.
For Chief Justice Roberts, I would pound hard on the “reputation”and “legacy” and how disgraced he will be if he presides over any kind of Trumpian victory over the Constitution, America’s democratic ideals, and/or the Rule of Law,
If you wish to be cheeky and borderline disrespectful, for Justices Thomas and Kavanaugh, I would give them language like “there appears to be evidence that you perjured yourself in your confirmation hearings, and you have also demonstrated a low level of judicial temperament”. For Thomas, connect this to “in refusing to recuse yourself from the many, many issues your wife is very politically active in that do come before your Court, and for your refusal to understand that police officers and prison guards do, in fact, at times, commit crimes against prisoners under their control .” For Kavanaugh,connect his lack of judicial temperament to ”your shameful behavior at your confirmation hearings.” and for both of them, you can add “You are making those of us on the outside consider whether you are an illegitimate appointment who should be removed or out-voted, as we work to re-gain an America worth living in.”
And you don’t have to let Gorsuch off easy either, tell him “although it seems that you are an ethical person (within your own narrow, and ideologically-blinkered vision), your appointment was, in legal terms, ‘the fruit of a poisoned tree’ which those of us who suffer from your mis-understandings are increasingly less likely to respect and honor.”
For Amy Coney Barret, I would just go “we all know you were put on the Court to give Republicans everything they want, just know that we all can see it very clearly and we will never respect you or your decisions.”
And of course, let’s send lots of letters full of love,encouragement, thanks, support and so on to the three justices ( and one new Justice) who do appear to know what this great country needs, Breyer, of course, is resigning, and being replaced by new Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson: however, the situation is slightly confused, Breyer is still sitting (and I assume voting on the abortion decision), however Jackson is/will be part of the Court, and there's no harm in writing letters addressed to both. So do compliment Breyer, Kagan, and Sototmayor on their work, and encourage Jackson in her efforts to actually bring “justice” to America.
And remember, a big part of this exercise is to help each of us to focus and do positive work in our
current degraded political horror-show.
Justices of the Supreme Court:
Samuel A. Alito
Stephen G. Breyer
Neil M. Gorsuch
Elena Kagan
Brett M. Kavanaugh
Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.
Sonia Sotomayor
Clarence Thomas
Amy Coney Barrett
I’m a caretaker for my handicapped wife, who's still trying to run 2 businesses with me as chief assistant, I've also got a nice book-length no-clickbait website trying to get deeper into how and why people make the history we make. It’s a busy life and I won’t be taking a big part in commenting on your comments.