Transcripts For CSPAN Judicial System Diversity 20160806

Atlantic counciln to talk about the situation in libya and the war on isis. Next, a discussion on the future of the Supreme Court. Then faithbased organizations outline efforts to register voters. Clinton willillary speak at a conference of black and hispanic journalists. Republican president ial nominee donald trump at a rally in green bay. This years annual gathering of progressives called Network Nation took place called Netroots Nation to lace in july. A discussion about the Supreme Court and diversity in the judicial system. The impact of the president ial election and the balance of power in the u. S. Senate. This is one hour 20 minutes. Welcome, everyone. It is a pleasure to be here. I am nan aron president of alliance for justice. I would say coming to netroots is like coming home. It is great to be here every year. I see some old faces and a lot of new faces, which is wonderful. I would say after the events of the past few weeks in our it iny, and yesterday france, it is really good to be among friends today. Hank you all for being here we have an Amazing Group of speakers. I will get right to it. Adam, whot to thank was on the board of netroots. He used to be the chair. Booster of this panel. I am very grateful to you. This panel is organized by alliance for justice as well as the center for American Progress. Again, we are privileged to be here with such an Amazing Group of panelists. With a vacancy on the Supreme Court, and we all know there is a vacancy on this court, we are really at a Tipping Point in our history. The coming years will swing the court are medically in one direction the Court Dramatically in one direction or another. During the next president s term, three justices will be in their 80s. Ginsburg, breyer, and kennedy. No matter who wins this election, the we will not only be going to vote for president , we will also be going to vote for our Supreme Court, given the number of vacancies we expect to see. Since Richard Nixons first term after the 1968 election, has a president appointed 4 justices in a fouryear term. Back in very well be the next president s charge. After what joe biden said a vacancy appeared on the court. That is he says that he picked up the phone and called president obama. He said, hey, if we really want to change the composition of the cruz. Lets nominate ted before you know it, we will not have one vacancy, we will have 8 vacancies. [laughter] we have merit garland Merrick Garland, and no matter who is elected this court will be hearing cases of critical importance to all of us for it isto come, whether environmental protection,orkers rights, choice, unions the court, what the court does, it affects every aspect of our lives. In todays discussion, you will hear more about the fight over the current vacancy in the future of the court. How the next Supreme Court will the course for generation, and how progressive activists can get involved and take action. I also encourage you to visit rosite which is scotus Tipping Point dot org. To keep the conversation going, try posting on your app, tweeting, and using other social media tools. Now, for the panelists. I am delighted to introduce , whoessman Keith Ellison represents the fifth Congressional District of minnesota in the United States house of representatives. He has done it since 2007. Ofgressman ellis philosophy inclusiveness is evident in his top congressional priorities, promoting peace, chris parity for working families, environmental sustainability, and civil and human rights. He is one of americas leading progressive voices. We will hear from him now. Rep. Ellison how are you doing . I like it. I like it. A friendly conversation. That may be very candid. Some of us who have been supporting bernie sanders, im supporting Hillary Clinton now, but we spent a lot of time working for bernie sanders. People might debate what is unity with integrity . I will tell you with one word. Issues. We can come together on the issues, it doesnt matter who is carrying the standards. It is the issues. What issue was more important than the Supreme Court appointment . That is like a top thing. All of you guys who really believe that people ought to be able to marry who they want, that the Supreme Court should allow the electorate to decide who will be president , and i will get into that more, all of you believe those things you should put on your organizing and doorknocking shoes, not because of his name is on the who willut because of make the Supreme Court appointment. It is a core organizing, grassroots, mobilization issue. It is an issue that will make you get up in the morning and make you knock doors until the night. It should make you wear out your knuckles. Visit every hair shop and coffee shop where you live. This is a very big deal. Im so pleased we have jeff voting ono will be who is confirmed. I think it would be better to have him in the majority when that is made. What do you think . [applause] put jeff in the majority, guys. I want to make the point that from an activist standpoint, the Supreme Court seems lawyerly over there. I am a lawyer and an activist. I can relate to both. I want to say it is important for activists to understand how every day, bread, qualityoflife issues that the Supreme Court weighs in on. Think of ledbetter, the lady in alabama, training men, they are coming in and out. Some of them end up supervising her, even though she brought the men and got better work reviews. At the end of 30 years she found light. T her pension was that male counterparts who had been there a shorter time head of eager pension. She sued and won. She got her money. Then the other side appealed. They did not say we did not discriminate, they said we kind of discriminated, but she did not sue fast enough. They capped her money. Which is not just a legal miscarriage, but a moral failure. Took it all the way to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court said, yes, she did not sue fast enough. The fact that she did not know she was being discriminated against didnt matter. The fact that she was being discriminated against didnt matter. It was all but the big businesses wanted to pay her. Supreme court. The public to join Employee Union . I do not want to be part of a union, but when you , iotiate an awesome contract want part of the money. You want to be a freeloader and not pay anything . That was working to decision when Justice Scalia passed away. I do not know too many unions that were not worried about the outcome of that decision. You know how it is. If someone tells you that some of your bills are optional, you do not have to be antiunion. You would say, i would like to but i dont have it. You and i both know public suffer, unions will people will suffer, safety will suffer, and as a nation we will suffer. The court that upheld that if police make the rules around the fourth the fourth amendment, there will be no sanctions of punishments against the violations of attractions against search and seizure. We live in the era of philando wherealton sterling if you do not have proper restrictions on police practices, bad things will happen. They will happen even if you have some. We will kick the door open more . This is an invitation to lawlessness. I do want to say in my main message, thank you for having this. I do believe that as activists who are online and on the ground , we have to be very plugged it into what happens on the Supreme Court and we have to demand, right now, that the Senate Republicans do their job so that they will either do their job or be exposed for failing to do their job. Are you ready to get after them a little bit . [applause] nan thank you. What a great charge and what a great segue to our panel. Let me thank you congressman ellison. You were great. [applause] let me introduce our panels, then we will start with senator merkley to talk about the vacancy and senate of destruction is hi destruction ism. Let me introduce jeff merkley, right and theill first to attend college. Creek, oregon, senator merkley has spent his career fighting to increase opportunities for working families. I should add, at a time when Senate Republicans were blocking nominees to some of our critically important circuit courts around the country, it was senator merkley who championed rules reforms, which broke the blockade and are allowed really great judges to go on to the circuit courts. What a great man we have here today. Ambar pinto. 22. He was born in bolivia she moved to the United States at the age of 12. She is a passionate activist for undocumented youth. She is a cofounder of dreamers of virginia. A former board member of and a deportation defense leader with united we dream. Is anbracey sherman awardwinning reproductive justice activist committed to the disability of people who have had abortions. The ticket really women of color color. Icularly women of her work on storytelling has been featured on bbc, the guardian, washington post, and other outlets. Last, but not least [applause] , who helpedha singh to organize the panel. She is Campaign Manager for legal progress at the center for American Progress, where she manages Grassroots Organization efforts to educate americans on fill judicial vacancies. She carries more than nine years of experience of social justice work and a strong grassroots organizing background. Now [applause]. Hat a team we got i will start with senator merkley. Meritr, i would say that harlan Merrick Garland has had a difficult time in the senate. The senate has republican unprecedented obstructionism on the senate and court as democratic institutions. As you know, even before the scalia family publicly released the news of his death, Mitch Mcconnell was on the floor saying that he would get no hearing and no vote. Alternately, we have senator merkley to explain what is happening, and what the implications are for the future. Sen. Merkley the implication is profound. How are you doing . Thank you for coming to this discussion, getting later in the day. This is such an important issue that plays directly into the challenge we face in the president ial campaign. Think about this situation. Our founders wrote the constitution with three coequal branches. They said, how will we put checks and balances into place . We have the executive branch that must eat appointed. The Judicial Branch will have to be appointed. Where do the appointments come from . Maybe from the assembly, the house. If that happens there will be horsetrading that can forth, my friend for your friend, no direct accountability to the public. No, we will best responsibility for nomination in a single person, the president. They thought, what happens if you have a president that goes off track and appoints folks that are unqualified either by experience or chacter . We have to have a way of making sure that doesnt happen. As hamilton related, the conversation was about the senate would be a check on a nominee of unfit character. That was the term, unfit character. In order to do that you have to vote. He senate vet amd that has been our job for 200 years. Suddenly, for the first time ever, we have a Senate Leadership that says no. We are not going to do our job. We are not going to vet the candidate. Where not going to vote on the candidate. We are going to sit on our hands. This is enormously destructors. This abdication of responsibility. We saw a lot of this at lower levels, failing to rapidly and responsibly vet and vote on nominees for the executive branch or justices on the lower court, but never at the Supreme Court level. It is a whole new phase. Why wouldnt mcconnell and friends simply hold hearings, vet the candidate, and vote . The answer is best summed up by a comment from senator hatch who said previously if only the president would nominate someone like Merrick Garland, then we would have someone we could support. They do not have a reason on terms of qualification to vet and vote no vote no. They do not want to get someone that is qualified. What you have to understand is that this is court packing. An effort to delay the nomination to a republican president who will nominate someone from the far right to pack the court. I do not think the media in america has done their job to portray how destructive this is to the integrity of the court, and how wrong it is what Mitch Mcconnell and the folks that have signed up and pledged himself to the constitution, to the responsibilities of being a u. S. Senator, and are advocating that responsibility. We need to say do your job. Lets tell them that. Lets force them to act. Meanwhile, back to the court question. It does a tremendous amount of damage to the senate. It is failing its responsibility. Itssenate its using consent power to not maintain three coequal branches, but to systematically undermined the executive branch, war on the president , through the nominations and pack the court. They are doing damages all around and it is completely unacceptable. Nan we will come back to you in a few minutes. Well said. Absolutely. Renee. A question for success withad a the texas Abortion Case thanks to justice kennedy. Which was surprising, but very welcome news. My question to you, in this case, the Supreme Court basically found these 2 texas laws enacted by the state legislature were not enacted to protect Womens Health and safety, but were passed in order to reduce access to Abortion Services and clinics. My question to you is what is next on the agenda for the antichoice groups . That must have been a huge loss for them. What we have to look forward to . If anyone has met anyone that is an antichoice activist, they are persistent. Just how everyone knows the case, in 23rd teen the state of. Exas past a law called hb2 what it did was that we call ofm targeted regulations Abortion Providers. It imposes restrictions on Abortion Clinics. It is a number of things. This law was a huge omnibus bill that forced working clinics to become ambulatory surgical centers, minihospitals. For anyone who has not had an abortion, it is maybe a 5 minute procedure, not an actual surgery. What they are saying is for someone to have this incredibly base procedure you have to be in a surgery room like open heart surgery. It is ridiculous. They require Abortion Providers have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. Because abortion is extremely people todo not admit the hospital because the complication rate is less than 1 . Hospital say, why would we have admitting privileges if you are not bringing us money here theyre not giving admitting privileges. Any hospitals are religiously affiliated. Closing and are merging, that is something to be careful love, because Abortion Providers cannot get those privileges and people cannot get abortions at these hospitals because of the religious police of the hospital. More Supreme Court issues. A couple of things like banning abortion after 20 weeks, a mandated waiting period, and also made it so young people could not actually access abortions without notifying their parents. It was extremely problematic. You may have seen wendy davis who did a filibuster with 10,000 activists from all over texas. I work at the National Network who galvanized people to shout down the bill. They were able to stop it. Rick perry was very determined to pass things. He went into a special session money and theyr passed it anyway. It went to the Supreme Court. An independent Abortion Provider Womens Health was trying to make sure their clinics would stay open. Many said this has nothing to do with Womens Health. Of course, the Supreme Court said yes, you are right. You cannot point to one case in which this law has actually helped. It has done nothing but harm. My organization submitting, and i will make it brief, but i interviewed six women that for harm to trying to get to an Abortion Clinic because clinics for shutdown and they had to travel hundreds of miles to get an abortion. Many do not realize the majority of people that have abortions are people of color, living below are just the poverty line, people that already have children. When i was talking to the women, they illustrated how they had to skip meals to be able to afford the abortion. They had to stay overnight in their car just to deal with the waiting period. Appointments. Ve 2 they had to find someone to watch their children. They had to skip work unpaid because they do not have sick leave to get an abortion several hours away. This case is the biggest case, Abortion Case, that has gone to the Supreme Court since planned parenthood. Texas is not the only state with laws like this. The fact that this was struck down has set a precedent across the nation. This is, louisiana, they have already had some laws struck down. We have the center for effective rights suing the state of louisiana for all of the restrictions that they enacted 8 or 10,lone, it is something ridiculous. It is huge and giving us a framework to fight back. We still have a lot of work to do. If you think in medical terms, it is likely have stopped hemorrhaging and bleeding, and now we need to repair. Theave a lot of policies on books that keep people from accessing abortions. Does anyone know how many Abortion Clinics are in the state we are in . One. One. There are some laws that are trying to shut it down. They will be left with one. Mississippi also has one. Louisiana, theyre trying to shut them down. Texas went from over 40 two if the law had not passed it would have been 9. We need to make sure we can build back up. This case has given us the ammunition to move forward. Again, what is next on the docket for antichoice folks, they will try to pass these laws because they have hardheaded legislatures that do not care with the Supreme Court says. They will still move forward. Theres a guy, the indiana governor that has been in the c3 so i will not talk about why, but i hear his friend whom he is in the news with has said that he believes there should be some form of punishment for people that have abortions. Pence, hasend, mike made those punishments legal in his state. The next thing they are doing is criminalizing pregnancy. Terminal rising people that self induce criminalizing people that self induce abortions am a which happens because people cannot get to a clinic. They are criminalizing miscarriage. If you are suspected of having a miscarriage, but maybe she tried a selfinduced abortion, they are taking them to jail. Davis surewe have jail and attempted suicide because she selfinduced and abortion. We have a 20 year sentence because of an induced abortion. Supposedly, allegedly. And jones, same thing. Ills on p bought p the internet and was arrested in the hospital by an antichoice doctor. Any to make sure this is not the end. Hypothetically, if some people are allowed to choose the next Supreme Court justice, i guarantee that they will make sure that those laws in indiana and other states, tennessee, are exported to the rest of the nation. They are passing the he will start to see more pitting of the fetus and the person of against people like me, people who had an abortion in need of an abortion. This is going to continue, and whoever is next, appoints the next Supreme Court justices gets to decide where that goes. Right . And so someone like the governor of indiana we know where he , stands. Ok . He has put this idea of people should be punished for having an abortion. He basically turned to trump and said, i got you. I did it. So we have a huge fight ahead of us. Nan ok. The fight is not over. [applause] so wildly got some good news from the Supreme Court while we got some good news from the Supreme Court, we did not get some on immigration and all, as amber knows all too well. And, as many of you know, the court enjoined accords and stop to the implementation of an executive order that wouldve prevented 4 million of parents of children who are u. S. Citizens from seeking deportation relief. It was just a very disappointing deadlock on the court. Amber, can you tell us what some of the actions are that are taking place at the local level to protect immigrant families . Amber yes. So, the Supreme Court in this dock expansion case failed us. Right . The Supreme Court did not make a choice. Did not make a decision. They just said, lets just give it a time, and they will figure it out. Like you said, it is 4 Million People. Those 4 Million People right now are in dangeof deportation and my parents would have been, would have qualified for this relief. I have a nineyearold brother who is a citizen, and i remember one day my mother and i were cooking in the kitchen and my brother comes and says, hey, if we get someone elected as president , i am scared that my classmates, and mom and dad, you and my brother will be deported. , where would i go . What will happen with me . A nineyearold worry about these things and having this conversation in the classroom is not ok, right . What we need to start doing our one of the things we are doing is making sure our communities know their rights. We are doing massive know your rights sessions with trainees all across the country where we have this session where we are basically keeping an eye for border patrol, immigration agents around our neighborhood because we know they are there. Us, waitinglking for people at the School Bus Stop which they are not supposed , to be doing. They are raiding homes at 5 00 a. M. , 6 00 a. M. In the morning. Taking people away. And they are following folks to their work and stopping them right before getting to work and detaining them. This puts a lot of stress on families. And we have a hotline that has provided, that is run by volunteers and provides assistance to families and individuals who have been victims of a raid or have someone in deportation proceedings, and if you want to take this number down in share it with your friends and family in your network, the number is 443631413. We have help in spanish and english. For those who do not know what program wheres a Police Officers and immigration agents collaborate and Police Officers become i. C. E. Agents and are doing immigration work. They did this in october last year. They have made this a political point in houston and harris county. Also in garden, North Carolina, we are trying this. They have a government which does not recognize. We will make sure we have ids so our people feel protected and feel safe. Just,so, you know, it is it is just sad to know that across the country. People are in fear. Right . They are not protected. From any deportation, and that at any moment, you are vulnerable to someone come into your house, someone coming to a safe place for you and raiding you. We will continue to fight. We will seek relief until we stop all deportations and and the raids. It is not enough. Nan ok. [applause] man nan wow. So we are going to turn a little bit to what we can do and then we will go back to some substantive stuff. That brings us to anisha here. We are not just concerned with Supreme Court justices, but there were about 850, around 850 judges at the District Court level, court of appeals level, and the nine on that Supreme Court. And by the way, i should just tell you, we do focus groups every two years where we meet with a group of about 30 or 40 voters, democrats, republicans, moderates. And i usually go to these focus groups every two years, and the first question we always ask at a focus group is, how many justices are there on the Supreme Court . And i should tell you, i have never been to a focus group where anyone knew the answer to that question. Which speaks to anisha. We know on the right if you just hear the talk, from the candidate, republicans talk about judges and the courts and the Supreme Court all the time. Democrats, not so much. With the exception of senator merkley and a few others. So anisha, tell us, we know that republicans are very engaged in who becomes a judge. How can we motivate the base of the Democratic Party to care as much . Anisha that is very true. i am so excited to be on this with these wonderful people and to be in this room with everyone here. This is such an important issue. I dont think our community, progressives in general, have taken this to mind as much. What this has caused cases are , coming out of texas because we do not Pay Attention to the lower courts. So how come both a georgian and are abortion and apadoca coming out, we are not paying attention until they are in the Supreme Court and then we are , saying how did this even come about . It came about because conservative justices and people in places like texas have been appointed by president that are very conservative, and then we end up with these situations. 75 to 100 cases are heard every year by the Supreme Court, but there are thousands of cases heard in the district and circuit courts no it is paying attention to accept conservatives, so that is the problem. So we are playing the lottery with our rights and our issues and people we care about when we are just letting it happen in the Supreme Court. So that is our job at why we matter. I am the Campaign Manager at the center for American Progress which is meant to really raise the issue throughout the nation. Why are our courts important . Every single issue we care about ends up in the court in some way, shape or form. Whether it is lower or supreme. It is our job to spread the word there are vacancies to be filled, not just filled with anyone but with diverse judges that understand everyday lived experiences and can give fair determinations to our issues and cases and that are progressive and that are looking forward and making sure that we have a system in place that is not taking us back in time. Have 11n doing so, we different stages in our campaign right now that we work with to do everything from additions to rallies to opeds, media, twitter forums, anytime of action. Any type of action. Anything to make some noise, that is what were trying to do on this is what we have been trying to do for quite sometime time. Today itself, we are marking 100 vacancies in lower courts today. Yeah a. Yay. Another monumental moment in this obstruction fight. We have seen this before scalia died. Before the Merrick Garland situation came into the news, we have been seeing republican senators blocking nominees left and right. Very qualified judges. In some places that have traditional emergencies. An emergency is occurring when theyre so much backlog of cases and there are not enough judges, and they have to declare an emergency. We have 30 of those around the country right now. There were 12 when this congress came in. That situation comes to with the current senate, run by Mitch Mcconnell and senator grassley. Our job is to create as much noise as we cant assure we are not going to stand for this. We are the constituents, we want them to do our job. Their job. Some of you have seen this where we are pushing for the Supreme Court vacancies, but generally, senators are doing their job. Senators have said Merrick Garland is wellqualified. They have said that about the lower court fight. We have had senators recommend a judge and then block of that judge himself because they are trying to keep it vacant for the next president. There was 100 vacancies on the lower court. Think about what a Trump Presidency would mean. I believe that there. Some of the things we have done to give an example that we have done and we will continue to do arel november and beyond just campaigns that really make some noise. In iowa, for example, we had 36,000 copies of the constitution printed out, and we delivered it to senator grassleys office showing him article to section two which shows you need advice and consent, turned that into him. They had 36,000 copies, hopefully they are recycled. And in New Hampshire next week, july 19, the what hundred 25th day of of structuring, a huge moment as well. And25th day of up structure , obstruction. Over 170 days easy by the time they come back. They have not even held a hearing. We are definitely not seeing confirmation. There is an unprecedented number being matched once again. On the 19, we are having a lot of actions in a lot of your states. In New Hampshire, there is a light brigade over the biggest abridge, the Bridge Street bridge, very creative name. And they are trying to lift that up. Taking kayaks in ohio into the water and holding up signs and holding a rally. Kayaking is huge apparently. We are alsoda holding rallies. In iowa they are holding over do yourn picture with job signs. All around senator grassleys des moines office, all around his lawn, wearing tshirts that say i gave 5 million and all he got was this stupid tshirt. Doing rallies at his five other offices. These are the only way to get them to listen. We have seen movement. When we did them in pennsylvania , we did them in four different cities. Saidext day, the senator he would meet with garlands. The fact of the matter is, it is not until you meet with your senators, to eat at them, as much as you can, really tell them, tell them as much as you can how this matters. Will hold a hearing and a vote for market garlands and the others Merrick Garland and the other nominees. [indiscernible] nan i would say, i just would add you guys are doing some amazing things. I have watched the Senate Judiciary committee for more years than i care to admit to, but what always strikes me about the committee is, there is the senator Dianne Feinstein from california. Time after time, on really difficult votes, where we are working really hard to get her, what a niche said is absolutely right. You have got to send both. Etters and emails i always think, how hokey, but senator feinstein on tough votes will always start her remarks by letters, iot 6000 got 12,000 emails. I got 10 business whatever. It does really make a difference to be in touch with our senators. Back to senator change, i would like to topics a little too money and politics, with a little bit of a twist. What should a president look for in a Supreme Court justice . How important is the diversity of the professional background of an individual . Some of you might remember that this term, the court ruled in favor of former Virginia Governor mcdonald and his in his Corruption Case by narrowly defining what constitutes an official act by a public official. Of course, we all know the infamous decision of what is our infamous decision Citizens United, where the court defined corruption in such a narrow way that really defies reality. Might the court take a different view if its members included justices with previous experience as legislators who would understand from Actual Experience how corruption might influence the democratic process . Senator merkley. Senator merkley thank you. I was thinking about William O Douglas. William douglass, Supreme Court justice who had a vast amount of experience before he went to the court, from that experience involved a connection to families who were really struggling, individuals who were really struggling. He had the experience of writing the rod underneath railroad trains. He had the experience of hanging out with hobos at caps. Camps. Ihe died, he decided to decided to hitchhike from new york down to his funeral. I thought that was the closest i could come to writing the rods riding the rods. It was a driving rainstorm. I march 15 miles out to new jersey, picked up by a car with three hispanic men in it. We had not gone a couple of miles before the police pulled us over. And they gave the folks in the time, took very hard over the drivers license of the driver and did not return it to the driver. The driver asked for a back and they said, you already got it back. He did not get it back. Now this poor gentleman would have to keep driving without a license. And he said you, you worked illegally hitchhiking, so he throws me in the back, takes me way out to ginger zee new jersey, and dumps me out on the highway in the middle of nowhere at 1 00 a. M. In the morning. I was developing the flu, so at that point i was starting to throw up. D. C. , butr made it to i think about how the experiences of William O Douglas , the broad experiences he had taking on the corruption and predatory nature and the Stock Exchange before it became a justice. Background really matters. If you think about the Supreme Court, they had a case and i am not a lawyer by the way, so it is the nontechnical version of this they had a case that candidates can restrict judges from actually touching campaign cash. They would be restricted from asking for money. Is that too corrupting . The Supreme Court said yes. Yes, that would be totally acceptable to prevent judges fundsctually asking for for their campaign. That would create the reality of corruption of the judicial system and its independence is so important, its integrity is so important. But they had background as a judge. They understood the issue and the context of serving as a judge, but when it came to the question of what it be unlimited to have funds put into a legislative race, even if it is done in the context of a thirdparty . Goeso, if the money directly to the candidate, you can limit that, but if it goes indirectly, it is unlimited. Million to a 1 Shadow Campaign is not corrupting. Whereas more than a couple thousand dollars directly is corrupting. It makes no sense. The Shadow Campaign, you know where the money is coming from. They said it is not corrupting even if it is undisclosed. They did not have requirements that there be any sort of disclosure. Legislators inn some part of their life, they would have seen the enormous impact. Last week, we had a bill related to gmo labeling on the floor of the senate. Of whatdefinition constitutes genetic modification excluding the biggest products from monsanto. And they did not even have to say gm or biotech or anything that indicates the bill is a sham, but it takes away states rights. Why did that happen . Because monsanto can wield fabulous influence. Why is the fact that all of our environmental republicans have . Sappeared simple reason, the Koch Brothers invested in the last 2014 campaign hundreds of millions of dollars in louisiana and arkansas and iowa and North Carolina and colorado and alaska and oregon. In my race. I am pleased to say i decided to take them on directly. Iran campaign ad about outofstate Oil Investors coming to oregon to select my opponent because they share this, this, this. Great investment for the Koch Brothers, terrible choice or oregon. By calling them out directly, they left oregon in october, and my opponents campaign collapsed. It was all based on the Koch Brothers. Thank you, oregonians, for kicking the Koch Brothers out of my state. Lets kick them out of every other state in the country. [applause] that is where Citizens United comes in. The justices do not get the fight. Left, they do not understand how corrupting this cash flow is. Are we the people constitution, up, for, by the people. Proceeds to make it of the, by, and for the most powerful. The senate is up for sale, the house of representatives is up for sale. What can be more corrupting then turning our constitution on its head and changing it from we the people to we the powerful, the very heart of what it was supposed to be all about . The justices dont get it, and that is why it is so important the next president nominate, and the next senate confirm, a justice who truly understands this vision of we the people so we can reclaim our republic. [applause] nan amen. So i am going to ask three of you a question to be answered very briefly, because i want to make, have some time for you to ask questions. So i am going to start with rene. You are a powerful storyteller. So tell us a little bit about your work on storytelling and issueat relates to your and why you think it is such an effective means to convince people . Renee it is frustrating when i said i had an abortion, it is still a radical act. One in three of women will have abortion by the end of 20, 2025. Everyone of you love someone who has had an abortion. You may not know it yet, but you do. Ae fact that we create culture where people can speak openly about their experiences, and they are heard. In the play a huge part whole health care decision. In a my abortion story brief Organization Called advocates for you. Winning three campaigns. I wanted to make sure the justices knew i am someone that had an abortion. I am a biracial woman, and you will listen to me. You need to be held accountable to me. I wanted to make sure as i wrote that theyation speech were accountable to the women who were having abortions in texas. They need to know that their decision is actually impacting the school, their real lives. We think about these as kind of, it is just out there, they decided to sing, but it impacts real people. By sharing our stories, we are illustrating that. One of the next big fights for the river duct of Health Justice movement is to get rid of the hide and helms amendment, and abortion stories [applause] these are my remarks as a board the Democratic Party for the first time has put a repeal of the Hyde Amendment and the helms amendment in the platform. That is an sharing that we areeve that if you prochoice, that everyone has that choice. A right is not a right without access, ok . We cannot say we are prochoice but then advocate for a law that says people who are enrolled in medicaid, people who are incarcerated, people in the health services, federal employees do not actually have access to that. How many of you or your family members or the young people in your lives have 500 just sitting around but you can do something with . Not a lot of people. Imagine you find yourself pregnant and that is what you need. Needeed years 500 you that 500. And then you have to deal with on your way to an Abortion Clinic, and immigration checkpoint. And you may get pulled over for driving while black. And then that is before you get to the antiabortion protesters who are calling you all sorts of names, which the Supreme Court said they are allowed to do. That is not ok. And so we need people to share their stories to speak up, but also we need all of you, those of you who support people who have abortions, who love people who have abortions, to stand up and remind us we are loved, and we are in a space where we had to share our stories because you cannot expect us to stand up and speak out with the antiabortion rhetoric that permeates our country. One thing i will ask you to do today, talk about your values and beliefs around people who have had abortions, and say the word abortion. Talk about abortion. Remind us we are loved, we deserve health care, and that we matter. [applause] nan so amber, i dont think you are expected to make one, but now we are off course, i know you are the cow finder cofounder of dreamers, and an activist in this arena. Whotrikes me that activists have promoted it reform of Immigration Laws, particularly have made such tremendous strides. Tell us a little what drew you into this movement. Why you think you have been able to make the progress you have made, and kind of what keeps you going and motivated. The program was cofounded in early 2012. Reason, since the moment i crossethe border, i knew i was undocumented. I was very mature for a 12yearold. So i knew things would be hard, but i was not aware of how hard they were actually going to be. I was given the opportunity to intern with one of my mentors at her conference. And reading the petitions, right, the statements to get a credible interview by asylum, and having to translate those from spanish to english was , toly emotionally draining see that these people work here because they fear to lose their lives back at home. They were assaulted. They were, you know, harassed by gang members. To see that these people would not get asylum, they may think, there is something wrong with this system. Who are these people that i believe deserve to stay here because they if they get deported back home, they will be murdered, they will die, made me want to do more. That is when i joined other youth who were undocumented, and we found this program. With might involvement with united dream, i learned that besides the system not acknowledging this process on why people are migrating, the refugee crisis of central yes, we doildren, not call them refugees. We call them the Central American kids across the border. That means they can go back to their parents. We dont understand people migrating. And on top of that, we dont understand immigrants that are double criminalized. If you are a person that is u. S. ,itizen and have a conviction and some sort of type, you got out of jail as you go to jail, and that some point you get out. Even though the system is broken, it also affects immigrants in a double way. After they get convicted, after they do their time, after they are reformed, they are being prosecuted by a team that raise homes,omes raid their and then deport them to places they are not familiar with. So seeing the double someoneization, seeing with a conviction of 20 years ago, a dui or something they could not because they did not afford an attorney or did not know better, they did not have the money to pay a bond, are now raided. Just because to this system, they are just one number. Not matter, right . And for the politicians and letsd officials saying, deported felons, lets deport , criminals, not children it is something that if urease me. Fell ins families to, sisters and brothers. People who they call criminals are also families. When we say lets keep families together, that means people who have also been convicted and victims of this criminal Justice System that is broken and is meant to affect people of color and is meant to affect poor people and immigrants are doubly criminalized by that. That is what takes me motivated every morning to continue working until everybody can live a life with respect like everybody else. [applause] so, anisha, bring us back home again. You describe all the amazing that cap is doing and your legal progress groups at the state level. What is going to happen with Merrick Garland . Is he going to get confirmed this year . I cannot answer that, do you have any other insights that i dont know . We are hearing they are waiting for the next president to make that decision. That if we make enough noise and we lift up these stories, personal stories and show why the courts are so important and the kind of people that are suffering because of split, thisrfour is not politics. This is not about their little games, it is every day people. Is a lift that up, there peaceful movement. While they are on recess until labor day weekend, it is our time, in your home state when you go back, to make as much noise as you can, to rally, to write, do everything you can. I will give you Contact Information or groups working on the ground every day. It is also looking up stories stories, because we always need stories of people who are hurt, struggling every day, or even people who have been convicted. You brought that up, and they are pleading guilty. Underould wait longer trial because there are not enough judges then to just plead out. Y or to be able to get they get out sooner if they serve their time and even have their case heard. There aplenty of people doing that in the system as well. Lifting up these voices and stories is the best way to really talk about this and hope for some sort of narrative. Nan thank you. I think the last one will be for senator merkley. What do you think will happen with the senate and Merrick Garland . Senator merkley before the election in november, i predict with great confidence they will be no serious confirmation debate on the floor. Interesting question was what happens after the election, during the lameduck. The senators, the majority senators have taken the position that this should be decided by the next president. The next president should be able to nominate because there is no foundation in the constitution for that. Willing toy not address Merrick Garland . I mentioned the sum reasons, but the heart of it goes to the Koch Brothers. They do not want the possibility of a 54 reversal of Citizens United. That is where they have the controlling influence of the in aity in the u. S. Senate way that is hard to envision any other special interest has such control of this institution. But they will be very worried the next president , if the next president is Hillary Clinton, that she may nominate somebody who would be, as described by senator hatch, as the only, someone who is more progressive on citing or environmental and social and human justice. There is a real possibility that right after the election, they will abdicate their argument and immediately moved to try to confirm Merrick Garland. Nan thank you. We know what we need to do here. We have a few minutes remaining, and i am wondering if any of you have some questions . Yes. We had a hand in the back. Are andbe say who you where you are from. And i think that gentleman first and then you. Yes. Take it away. It works for the recording. Time with United Dreams ambassador. I wanted to ask about the judicial diversity. I was disappointed the president did not nominate a person of color, but i was disappointed in the legal background of the justices that we have. All of them have gone to harvard, guild except for Justice Ginsburg who went to columbia. None of them have Immigration Law background. Is an elective. None of them have background in criminal defense, legal issues that most people will face in the country. I guess i wanted to hear your perspective on why is that, because during the oral arguments, i was infuriated even progressive justices had zero clue about Immigration Law, and most people were not even using the right terminology. Nan that is a question. Fourat should the next justices have in their legal experience, and how do we get that . Nan that is great. You have something you would like to say. There is some good news and bad news here. You are right. The current judicial system is so white, male, corporate, law. That is exactly what it is. In order to be a judge, it seems there is a secret track at it requires you to have worked at law firms. I am an attorney, but i dont think i could ever be a judge because i am a woman, i am of color, and i work in Public Interest. That is the fate. But we need to change that so i can be a judge monday. Lawyers,ays Corporate Public interest lawyers that can make it. Tohink the system goes back district and circuit courts. That is where we take supreme or satan state Supreme Court. We need to Pay Attention to lower courts and make sure we think of lawyers that we know and pushed them forward in our states. Every state has their own Commission System where they vet different lawyers to be judges. Making sure we are getting active in that conversation, which is something as a society we think, oh, leave it to the lawyers, but that is not true. Like state courts have judicial way ofns, we have a getting involved and suggesting to senators what about this lawyer, what about this lawyer . This person has a unique background, really having that conversation so they are in commission as well. Nan anyone else want to comment . I will justley note since the republicans took control of the u. S. Senate majority, we are talking now 19 years, they have confirmed 17 judges. In the year before that, we confirmed 96 judges. So while i was thinking of packing the court, at the Supreme Court level, it is a strategy to completely minimize the number of judges that are confirmed under president obama in the hope that there would be i his ornt with an r her name to proceed to fill the courts up with rightwing folks. Inhave made some progress november 2013, i and others advocated for a change in the interpretation of the rules, putting a simple majority to confirm judges on the floor so they could not be filibustered at the district level. That led to the 96 judges being confirmed the following year. Now it is being stopped at the Committee Level from ever getting to the floor. And is a terrible situation. Hopefully we will soon have a senate and a president will rectify that. I think we need to support progressive organizations that actually do efficacy to educate lawyers in training. There is an Organization Called if, when, how. Lawyers fore called reform justice. What they do is they have captured on Law School Campuses to ensure law students understand the fight for intersexuality, understand understandnality, the fight for Economic Justice and liberation. Justice, in racial bodily autonomy. Even if those lawyers dont go into Public Interest and go into corporate law, there is still an analysis to understand what their organization and Company Might be doing, how that, they put a plant in a certain area, how that is an environmental injustice and will affect the reproductive rights and reproductive autonomy and health of the People Living in that community, answer to have that analysis. If we support organizations like that, they can still go the corporate route, but they have a progressive and intersectional analysis, and then get on the Supreme Court. Of this is an issue that is great concern for us at alliance for justice. Every judge appointed by president obama. Found, or revealed, i should say that overwhelmingly the judges were either corporate lawyers as anisha said or prosecutors. Almost no criminal defense lawyers, no public defenders, no legal services. No Public Interest lawyers, environmental lawyers. There have been changes, but that is a huge priority for us. Im happy you raised it. It should be a priority for all of us. You are right. Senator merkley high and might add that it is not a president obama was not open to fighting finding wider diversity, but with the senators from states that can judge, up until that 2013, we had to get 60 votes to pass the judges. So the only judges that were getting through were ones that made the republican corporate world happy. That was systematic, really corruption of the balance of the court system. We have got to rectify this. We have got to have broad diversity to have anything close to a true Justice System. We have got time for one more question. And you have been here before in previous years. Great to see you again. I am from above the law i was also going to ask about your study, covered in that last question, so i will quickly follow up with a thought. There is a whole issue of trying to get the white house to select judges who have these different backgrounds. To also find it is hard recruit people that want to go into that process. Rich corporate lawyers, they are find it financially, and it is fine for them to go be a judge. Do you try to recruit people and put their names in the hat to be a judge . Else,l be quoting someone but i was talking to a man who wrote a book and was coauthor bg, which iss of r the life and times of ruth bader ginsburg. Nan boy is she notorious. There is a lot of systemic things in place just like it is really hard to get runn, people of color, to for office, you have to ask them multiple times and the system is not set up that way, it is the same thing. They have to be asked over and over again. , it was around the clerk system. If you look at when the justices are deciding who they want to this, they are doing are picking people who look just like them. So if the justices are white men were older they will go, well, it looks just like me. Come on up and be my clerk. Yeah, so it is one of those things we have to really impact the people when they are in law to check thee have system of whom can even get into law schools to even be there, right . Because it is so expensive, and how is it people and communities in color and even get there . I went to Public School i hold life and then things to a scholarship, i did my masters at cornell. It was a Culture Shock and definitely an economic shock. It is a whole system that we need to bend and flip over anduse we need to upend flip over. It is designed to keep people like me with low incomes out. [applause] nan that brings us to a close of this wonderful, amazing panel. ,hank you anisha, renee, ambar and senator merkley. What a treat to have you all. I will just end with this. Thank you for coming as well. We just did a poll. We have talked about good news, is news, but the good news that compared to previous election years, more people are paying attention to the supreme than in 20 or 30 years. That is great news. Say, i am kind of building on what everyone else has said. The more we can reach out to our friends, colleagues, activist, parents and say, this is the most important election in our life, because we are not just voting for president , we are voting for the court, for the Supreme Court. So we have got a lot of work to do. We are going to roll up our sleeves. We are going to do it. Thank you all. I know this crowd will do it. You always come through for us. Thank you, and thank you to our panelists. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org]