<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:verdana, helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:10pt"><div><span>Unbelievable. Pls sign and forward widely. Hopefully ColorOfChange will get results on this one -- it has a good record so far, and this one's a no-brainer.</span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 13.3333px; font-family: verdana,helvetica,sans-serif; background-color: transparent; font-style: normal;"><span> --Jenifer<br></span></div><div><br></div> <div style="font-family: verdana, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <div dir="ltr"> ----- Forwarded Message -----<br> <font face="Arial" size="2"> <b><span style="font-weight:bold;">From:</span></b> "Arisha Michelle Hatch, ColorOfChange.org" <info@colorofchange.org><br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> Jenifer
Cartwright <jencart13@yahoo.com> <br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Wednesday, March 19, 2014 10:11 AM<br> <b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> Tell Sen. Leahy: We need judges who will protect our civil rights<br> </font> </div> <div class="y_msg_container"><br><div id="yiv0951078662"><style type="text/css">
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<div style="color:#ffffff;">President Obama just nominated Atlanta federal prosecutor Leslie Abrams to a U.S. District Court vacancy in Georgia.</div>
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<td style="padding:16px;" align="center" bgcolor="#eeeeee"><span style="margin:1em 0px;font-family:Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;font-size:11pt;"><b>Sen. Leahy's refusal to abandon the "blue slip" tradition is causing headaches for Black judicial nominees.</b></span>
<div style="margin:1em 0pt;"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3323?t=1&akid=3337.394109.OgsD4f"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.colorofchange.org/images/Leahy216.jpeg" alt="Sen. Patrick Leahy" border="0"></a></div>
<div style="margin:1em 0pt;"><span style="margin:1em 0px;font-family:Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;font-size:11pt;"><b>Tell him to stop allowing the GOP to block Black women from the federal bench.</b></span></div>
<div style="margin:1em 0pt;"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3323?t=2&akid=3337.394109.OgsD4f"><img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/s3.colorofchange.org/images/btn_take_action.png" alt="Take Action" border="0"></a></div>
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<div style="margin:1em 0px;">Dear Jenifer,</div>
<div style="margin:1em 0px;"><b>President Obama just nominated Atlanta federal prosecutor Leslie Abrams to a U.S. District Court vacancy in Georgia.</b> Though nearly one-third of the state identifies as Black, Abrams would become the first Black woman to ever serve on Georgia’s federal bench if confirmed.</div>
<div style="margin:1em 0px;"><b>The open secret is that Abrams’ nomination will go nowhere</b> — just like those of her colleagues Natasha Perdew Silas, Linda Walker, and Eleanor Ross before her<sup>1</sup> — <b>unless we do something about it.</b> We're calling on Senate Judiciary chair Patrick Leahy to drop his committee's outmoded, increasingly-abused “blue slips” tradition, which allows just one senator to effectively veto the president’s judicial picks without cause.</div>
<div style="margin:1em 0px;"><b>Georgia’s right-wing obstructionist senators have been withholding their “blue slips” — or personal pre-approval of Obama nominees — for three years now.</b><sup>2</sup> As long as Sen. Leahy lets them, these good ol’ boys will keep blocking highly-qualified Black women attorneys and sitting judges from ever seeing a Senate vote on their nominations, potentially locking in the unacceptable inequities in representation on Georgia’s federal bench for decades to come.</div>
<div style="margin:1em 0px;"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3323?t=3&akid=3337.394109.OgsD4f">As Judiciary Committee chair, Sen. Leahy could unilaterally end reliance on blue slips today. <b>Can you call on Sen. Leahy to ensure President Obama’s judicial nominees receive the full vote they’re constitutionally entitled to?</b></a></div>
<div style="margin:1em 0px;"><b>Federal judges rule on some of the most crucial civil rights issues impacting our communities</b>, including Stop and Frisk,<sup>3</sup> so-called “Stand Your Ground” or “Shoot First” laws,<sup>4</sup> and selective voter ID. Georgia in particular has been bombarded with attacks on voting rights since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to gut the federal Voting Rights Act last year; the state has since seen aggressive elimination of polling places, adoption of discriminatory redistricting plans, and even a proposal to move Augusta’s elections from November to the summertime when it is believed Black voter turnout will be lower.<sup>5</sup></div>
<div style="margin:1em 0px;"><b>We need judges committed to civil rights and ensuring equal justice for all, but instead we have more than ten percent of federal judgeships sitting vacant</b> — with long-standing vacancies concentrated in those states with at least one Republican senator who refuses to blue slip any Obama nominee.<sup>6</sup> Worse, blue slipping under Sen. Leahy has forced the president’s hand into unnecessary, unreciprocated, and lopsided backroom “package” deals that ultimately give individual, hostage-taking senators more power to make judicial appointments than the White House itself.<sup>7</sup></div>
<div style="margin:1em 0px;">The most egregious of these current deals would serve as yet another assault on Black Georgians. <b>Sen. Saxby Chambliss could successfully push through three of his own hand-picked candidates in exchange for agreeing to stop his marathon obstruction of <em>just one White House nominee</em></b>, in limbo since January 2012.<sup>8</sup> The president is now in the position of having to seriously consider lifetime appointments to the federal bench for people like Michael Boggs, who as a Georgia legislator voted to preserve the Confederate Battle Emblem as part of the state’s flag, and Mark Cohen, best-known for his work to uphold Georgia’s discriminatory voter ID law.</div>
<div style="margin:1em 0px;"><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3323?t=4&akid=3337.394109.OgsD4f"><b>Tell Sen. Leahy: It’s past time to drop the indefensible blue slips policy and ensure judges qualified to protect our civil rights have a fair shot at a full Senate vote.</b> And when you do, please ask your friends and family to do the same.</a></div>
<div style="margin:1em 0px;">Thanks and Peace,</div>
<div style="margin:1em 0px;">--Rashad, Arisha, Matt, Dallas, Kim, Johnny, and the rest of the ColorOfChange team<br> March 19th, 2014</div>
<div style="margin:1em 0px;"><b><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://act.colorofchange.org/go/2812?t=5&akid=3337.394109.OgsD4f">Help support our work.</a></b> ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU—your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don't share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way.</div>
<div style="margin:1em 0px;">References</div>
<div style="margin:1em 0px;">1. “Obama nominates Leslie Abrams – Stacey’s sister – for federal judgeship,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 03-11-2014<br><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3377?t=6&akid=3337.394109.OgsD4f">http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3377?t=7&akid=3337.394109.OgsD4f</a></div>
<div style="margin:1em 0px;">2. “Johnny Isakson, Saxby Chambliss send judicial signals to White House,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 01-24-2012<br><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3378?t=8&akid=3337.394109.OgsD4f">http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3378?t=9&akid=3337.394109.OgsD4f</a></div>
<div style="margin:1em 0px;">3. "Federal appeals court upholds rulings that stop-and-frisk is unconstitutional," Guardian, 11-22-2013<br><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3332?t=10&akid=3337.394109.OgsD4f">http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3332?t=11&akid=3337.394109.OgsD4f</a></div>
<div style="margin:1em 0px;">4. "Federal suit challenges Georgia ‘stand your ground law,’" Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 11-01-2013<br><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3333?t=12&akid=3337.394109.OgsD4f">http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3333?t=13&akid=3337.394109.OgsD4f</a></div>
<div style="margin:1em 0px;">5. "Voting Rights at Risk in Georgia," Rolling Stone, 11-04-2013<br><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3334?t=14&akid=3337.394109.OgsD4f">http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3334?t=15&akid=3337.394109.OgsD4f</a></div>
<div style="margin:1em 0px;">6. "Blue-Slip Battle: The Senate Obstructionists’ Secret Weapon," New Yorker, 11-26-2013<br><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3329?t=16&akid=3337.394109.OgsD4f">http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3329?t=17&akid=3337.394109.OgsD4f</a></div>
<div style="margin:1em 0px;">7. “Stop the Democrats’ surrender to a blue slip,” Washington Post, 02-25-2014<br><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3379?t=18&akid=3337.394109.OgsD4f">http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3379?t=19&akid=3337.394109.OgsD4f</a></div>
<div style="margin:1em 0px;">8. "Civil rights leaders call for Obama to withdraw Georgia judicial nominees," The Hill, 12-23-2013<br><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3326?t=20&akid=3337.394109.OgsD4f">http://act.colorofchange.org/go/3326?t=21&akid=3337.394109.OgsD4f</a></div>
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