Tag Archives: United States Supreme Court

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Victory


 

I can’t thank you enough.

L‌ast ni‌ght, thanks in large part to our calling on the Wes Knodel Gun Show in Tacoma to require background checks on all gun purchases, the Tacoma City Council voted to require all future gun shows on city property to conduct background checks on all gun sales.

We did it.

Please click here, and thank the Tacoma City Council for closing the “gun show loophole” and helping reduce gun violence.

As thrilled as we are, this is only the beginning, and only applies to gun shows on Tacoma city property. The next logical step is to pass 594 to make sure that all gun sales, no matter where they happen, go through a background check.

And that is just what you and I will do.

Click here to join me in thanking the Tacoma City Council for making this wise decision.

Thank you for being such a critical part of this campaign.

Zach Silk
Campaign Manager
WA Alliance for Gun Responsibility

 

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Support NMAAHC


National Museum of African American History and Culture

Help us ensure that we meet our goal and stay on schedule.

You’ll be surprised to see all that’s been done since we broke ground for the National Museum of African American History and Culture on February 22, 2012.

The concrete has been poured. We’ve begun building some of the exhibition galleries. We installed two signature objects: a Southern Railway railroad car (segregated) and a 1930s guard tower from the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola. And we have acquired more than 25,000 items.

But there’s much more to do. And to accomplish this work, we need your support to ensure that we open in late 2015.

To make this museum a reality, we were charged with raising $250 million from individuals and private resources. To date, we have raised approximately $160 million and need to raise an additional $90 million to meet our goal.

That’s why we urgently need your help to build this important cultural addition to the American landscape.

None of this is possible without support from friends like you. Your tax-deductible gift today will ensure that we keep our construction timetable on schedule and ensure that other elements of this grand project stay on track, too.

Together, you and I are creating a center of learning and inspiration that will attract millions of visitors from across the country and around the world. It is here they will come to understand the African American story in full — the moments of great pain and the moments of soaring triumph.

We’re moving closer to reality with each passing day!

Thank you for your support.

Lonnie G. Bunch All the best,
Signature
Lonnie G. Bunch
Founding Director
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Washington​: Tell the EPA to ban bee-killin​g pesticides


save-the-bees200Honeybees, native bees, and other pollinators are responsible for 1 out of every 3 bites of food we eat. Many fruits and vegetables, including apples, blueberries, strawberries, carrots, and broccoli, as well as almonds and coffee, rely on bees. These beneficial insects are critical in maintaining our diverse food supply. 

U.S. beekeepers have been consistently losing 40-100% of their hives. Widespread use of a new class of toxic pesticides, neonicotinoids, is a significant contributing factor. In addition to killing bees outright, research has shown, even low levels of these dangerous pesticides impair bees’ ability to learn, to find their way back to the hive, to collect food, to produce new queens, and to mount an effective immune response.

Already, 15 countries have imposed a two-year restriction on the use of several of these chemicals. However, the EPA continues to ignore scientists—even those employed by the EPA—and has delayed action until 2018.

We request an immediate moratorium on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides. Bees can’t wait five more years—they are dying now. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has the power and responsibility to protect our pollinators. Our nation’s food system depends on it.

Europe has already fought back against powerful chemical companies and took a big step to protect bees by putting into effect a ban of the top bee-killing “neonic” pesticides. Now it’s our turn!

Bees are critical in producing the majority of our food crops, and the evidence is mounting that Bayer and Syngenta’s pesticides are a key contributor to mass bee die-offs. However, the EPA continues to ignore scientists—even those employed by the EPA—and has delayed action until 2018. 

But the bees can’t wait—and neither can we!

U.S. beekeepers have been consistently losing 40-100% of their hives, and are likely facing yet another season of historic bee die-offs.

We can’t let the EPA wait another five years to address this crisis. Please take action today and tell the EPA to ban bee-killing pesticides.

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

Thanks!

–Peter Stocker

This petition was created on MoveOn’s online petition site, where anyone can start their own online petitions. Friends of the Earth didn’t pay us to send this email—we never rent or sell the MoveOn.org list.

 

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In August … we got Updates on Voting Rights Act


Dear Friend,

whitehouselogo

repost: Why? Where are they NOW ?

It’s been a busy summer here at the White House, with no shortage of exciting and important announcements. In light of this, I’m writing to let you know we will be having more regular updates to this list. During the month of August we find ourselves reflecting and commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington in 1963.  During that summer the country reflected on the economic and racial equality of others and today we continue to act on that legacy.

This past week the President met with civil rights leaders to discuss securing the Vote for All Americans. Please take some time to read this weekend and share with family and friends.

Best,

Heather Foster Office of Public Engagement

“Securing

the Vote

for

All Americans”

Monday, President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, and Secretary of Labor Tom Perez met with civil rights leaders, and state and local elected officials at the White House to discuss how to safeguard every eligible American’s right to vote in light of the recent Supreme Court decision on Shelby County vs. Holder.

President Barack Obama meets with Civil Rights Leaders in the Roosevelt Room

President Barack Obama meets with Civil Rights Leaders in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, July 29, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

The Supreme Court’s decision invalidating one of the Voting Rights Act’s core provisions, upsets decades of well-established practices that help make sure voting is fair, especially in places where voting discrimination has been historically prevalent.

President Obama acknowledged that for nearly 50 years, the Voting Rights Act has helped secure the right to vote for millions of Americans, and expressed deep disappointment about the recent decision.  He asked the leaders in the room for their ideas on how to strengthen voting rights, and also encouraged them to continue educating their communities on the Voting Rights Act, and how to exercise voting rights.

We’ve seen much progress towards guaranteeing every American the right to vote.  But, as the Supreme Court recognized, voting discrimination still exists.  And while the decision is a setback, it doesn’t represent the end of either our efforts to end voting discrimination, or our basic right to vote.

Since the decision, President Obama has called on Congress to pass legislation to ensure every American has equal access to the polls.  The Voting Rights Act has been reauthorized repeatedly by wide bipartisan margins in Congress, and signed into law by Republican presidents.  In addition, every single American should have an interest in ensuring that every eligible American is able to exercise his or her right to vote.  So we remain hopeful that we will find a legislative solution to ensure a fair and equal voting process.

Monday’s meeting was another step forward to protect the vote, and we will continue to do everything in our power to secure this most basic right for all Americans.

Monday’s participants included:

Get Updates

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The Roberts Corporate Court Strikes Again


By  CAP Action War Room

The Powerful Over the People

Yesterday, we celebrated two landmark Supreme Court rulings advancing LGBT rights, but a closer look at the rest of the Supreme Court term reveals a wide variety of troubling rulings. These rulings may be on different issues, but they all have a common theme: whenever possible the High Court’s conservative wing puts the interests of the powerful above those of the people. This term the Supreme Court has issued rulings attacking voting rights, consumer rights, workers’ rights, and more.

In particular, the Roberts Court chooses to side with powerful corporations at almost every possible opportunity. Even conservative-leaning Supreme Courts in the past have not sided with corporations as often. For example, in cases where the powerful U.S. Chamber of Commerce intervened, they won barely more than half the time under Chief Justice Rehnquist. Since Chief Justice Roberts and Alito joined the court in 2006, the Chamber has won 70 percent of its cases. Over the past two terms alone, the Chamber has prevailed in a whopping 88 percent of its cases. In fact, the Roberts Court is the most pro-corporate Supreme Court in more than six decades.

Here’s a few of the areas where the court trampled on the people at the expense of the powerful:

  • Voting Rights: Just this week, the Court gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act. As a result, six states are already moving forward with voter suppression laws that previously would’ve been held up or blocked entirely. If individuals cannot vote, they of course cannot vote for politicians who support progressive or populist policies or vote against those who are the tools of corporate special interests like polluters, insurance companies, and Wall Street banks.
  • Workers’ Rights: In two decisions also handed down this week, the Court made it much harder for victims of workplace discrimination to seek justice. The first case severely limited the definition who counts as a supervisor, making it much easier for people to be intimidated out of taking action against harassment by their bosses. A second decision issued the same day made it much easier for corporations or supervisors to retaliate against individuals who complain about discrimination.
  • Human Rights: In April, the Court severely limited a 200 year-old law that allowed individuals to use the U.S. civil court system to seek recourse for human rights violations committed abroad. Chief Justice John Roberts led a splintered court in ruling that several Nigerians alleging an oil company aided an abetted torture, arbitrary killings, and indefinite detention could not sue, because the corporate conduct occurred outside the United States. It is now essentially impossible to hold anyone accountable for such conduct.
  • Consumer Rights: The Roberts Court has made a habit of issuing rulings that limit the ability of individuals to file class action lawsuits and/or seek justice outside the arbitration system that heavily favors corporations. The Court issued several such rulings this term, making it harder for individuals or even millions of individuals impacted by wrongdoing or some other harm to take on powerful corporations.

In addition, the Court ruled in favor of pharmaceutical companies, authorized what should be unconstitutionally intrusive police collection of DNA, undermined the rights of indigent defendants, and sided with big developers and trampled on “local community rights,” among other unfortunate decisions.

Based on the cases the Court has agreed to hear next term, it appears we may be in for more of the same. The Court will hear cases on abortion rights, housing discrimination, the separation of church and state, the ability of the president to fill executive vacancies in the face of Senate obstruction, affirmative action, and environmental laws, just to name a few potentially explosive decisions.

When the Court managed to rule against corporate interests and the powerful, it almost always came over the objections of Chief Justice Roberts and the other members of the Court’s conservative wing.

BOTTOM LINE: In spite of some bullets dodged and landmark victories, the Roberts Corporate Court continued to distinguish itself by overwhelmingly favoring corporate interests and the powerful over the rights and interests of individuals and the American people.

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