The Supreme Court and diversity in the judicial system, plus the impact of the president ial election and the balance of power in the u. S. Senate. This took place at the annual gathering of progressives, called net roots nation, which happened in st. Louis. Is a pleasure to be here. I am the president of alliance for justice, and coming to net roots is like coming home. Its great to be here every year. I see some old faces, and a lot of new faces, which is wonderful, and i would say, after the events of the past few weeks here in our country, and yesterday in france, it is really good to be among friends today. So thank you all for being here. We have an Amazing Group of speakers, so i will get right to it. I also want to thank adam. Adam, where are you . He was on the board of net roots. He used to be the chair. Booster of this panel, so im very grateful to you. Bys panel is organized alliance for justice, as well as the center for american progress. And again, we are just 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 yearsy, and the coming will swing the Court Dramatically in one direction or another. In fact, during the next justicess term, three will be in their 80s. Ginsburg, breyer, kennedy. Who wins this election, the, we will not only be going to vote for a president , we will be going to vote for a Supreme Court, given the number of vacancies we expect to see. Not since Richard Nixons first term, after the 1968 election, foura president appointed justices in a fouryear term, but that could very well be the next president s charge. Now, i love what joe biden said after a vacancy appeared on the court. Says he picked up the phone and he called president obama and said, hey, if we really want to change the composition of the court, lets nominate ted cruz. Before you know it, we wont have one vacancy, we will have eight vacancies. [laughter] but we have Merrick Garland, as we all know. And the other thing we know, no matter who is elected, this court will be hearing cases of critical importance to all of us, for years to come, whether its environmental protection, unions,rights, choice, the court and what the court does affects every aspect of our lives. So, in todays discussion, you will hear more about the fight over this current vacancy and the future of the court, how the next Supreme Court will set the nations course for a generation , and how progressive activists can get involved and take action. I would also encourage you to new micro site on the future of the Supreme Court, which is scotustippingpoint. Org. And to keep the conversation going, try posting on the app, tweeting, and using other social media tools. Now for the panelists. I am absolutely delighted to introduce congressman keith allison, who represents the fifth consecutive Congressional District of United Stateshe house of representatives. He has done it since 2007. Congressman alice allisons philosophy of generosity and inclusiveness is evident in his Top Priorities in congress. Promoting peace, and prosperity for working families, environmental sustainability, and civil and human rights. Keith ellison is one of americas leading progressive voices. We will hear from him now. Rep. Ellison thanks a lot, nan. [applause] how are you doing, netroots . I like it. A familyis conversation, so that me be very candid with you. Some of us who have been supporting bernie sanders, now we are supporting Hillary Clinton, but we spent a lot of time and energy working hard for bernie sanders. People might debate, what is the basis of unity with integrity . Im going to tell you in one word. The issues. If we can come together around the issues, to a certain extent it really doesnt matter who is carrying the standard. But its the issues. Important is more than the Supreme Court appointments . That is a topflight thing. Reallyof you guys who believe that people ought to be able to marry who they want to, that the Supreme Court ought to make the electorate decide who will be president , and i will get into that little more. All of you who believe those things really need to put your organizing and doorknocking shoes on. Not because of whose name might be on the ballot, but because of the issues. Because of whos going to make the Supreme Court appointment. It is a core organizing grassroots mobilization issue. It is an issue that makes me get up in the morning and knock on doors until late at night. It is an issue that will make you wear out your knuckles. It is an issue that ought to make you visit every hair shop and coffee shop in the district you live in, because this is a very big deal, and im so pleased we have jeff merkley who is going to be making the decision, voting on this, who is going to be confirmed. And i think it would be better to have him in the majority when that decision is made. What do you all think . [applause] i think it would be better. Put jeff in the majority, guys. Now look, i want to make this point. From an activist standpoint, the Supreme Court seems kind of lawyerly and over there. I happen to live the dual life of a lawyer and an activist, so i can relate to both. And i just want to say, its important for us activists to understand how many everyday bread and butter qualityoflife issues the Supreme Court really does weigh in on. Just think about lily ledbetter, a lady in alabama, busting chops for 30 years straight, training out, andng in, coming some of them and of supervising her even though she brought them in and got better work reviews than they got. Shehe end of 30 years, applied for her pension and found that her pension was light, and that male counterparts who had been there shorter term than her had a bigger pension than she did. She sued. She won, with a jury of men and women and she got her money. The other side appealed saying, we did not discriminate against her. We kind of discriminated against her, but she didnt sue fast enough, and they chopped her a legalhich is not just miscarriage, but a moral failure. They took it all the way to the spring court. That Supreme Court said she didnt sue fast enough. The fact she didnt know she was being discriminate against didnt matter to them. The fact she had been discriminated against didnt matter to them. They just wanted to side with the big business that didnt want to pay her. What about harris versus clinton . You want to join a Public Employee union . I dont want to be part of a union, but when you negotiate an awesome contract, i definitely want part of that money. You want to be a freeloader, not pay anything . That case was working its way towards a decision when Justice Scalia passed away. Unionsont know too many that were not real worried about the outcome of that decision. You know how it is. If somebody tells you some of your bills are optional, you dont have to be antiunion, you will be like, men, i would like to but this month i aint got it. But if that happens, you and i both know Public Employee unions will suffer. People will suffer. Safety will suffer. We has a nation will suffer. Or, what about hudson versus michigan . The Roberts Court held that if police break rules around the fourth amendment, like failing to knock prior to entry, there will be no significant punishments for the violation against our protections against certain seizure search and seizure. We live in the era of philando castile, alton sterling. If you in the era where, dont have proper restrictions on police practices, bad things will happen, and they will happen even if you do have some. So we are going to kick the door open even more . This is an invitation to lawlessness. So, i just want to say, and my main message today, thank you for having this, because i do believe that as activists who are online and on the ground, we have got to be very plugged into what happens on the Supreme Court, and we have got to absolutely demand, right now, that the Senate Republicans do their job, so they will either do their job or be exposed for failing to do their job. So you guys ready to go good after them a little bit . [applause] all right. Nan thank you. Segue to our panel. Let me thank you so much, congressman ellison. You were great. Brilliant. [applause] so let me quickly introduce our panelists, and then we will start with senator merkley and talk about this vacancy and senate obstructionism. But first, let me introduce u. S. Senator jeff merkley of oregon, who is the son of a mill right in the first in his family to attend college. Born in the timber town of myrtle creek, oregon, senator merkley has spent his career fighting to increase opportunities for working families. And i should also 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 reform which broke the blockade and allowed some really great judges to go on the circuit courts. So, what a great man we have got here today. Amber pinto. [applause] ambar was born in bolivia, and moved to the United States at the age of 12, and is a passionate activist for undocumented youth. Ambar is a cofounder of dreamers of virginia a former board member of edu futuro, and a deportation defense leader with united we dream. Anee Bracey Sherman is awardwinning reproductive justice activist, committed to the visibility of people who have had abortions, particularly women of color. Abortionork on storytelling has been featured on bbc, the guardian, washington post, and many other outlets. We have not least, anisha singh, who helped organize todays panel. Is the Campaign Manager for legal progress at the center for american progress, where she manages Grassroots Organization efforts to educate americans on the need to fill judicial vacancies. Anisha carries more than nine years of experience in social justice work and a strong grassroots organizing background. Now [applause] all right. What a team we have got. But i will start with senator merkley. So, senator, i would say that Merrick Garland has had a difficult time in the senate these days. Has the Senate Republican unprecedented obstructionism had on both the senate and the court as Democratic Institutions . As you all know, even before the scalia family publicly released the news of his death, Mitch Mcconnell was on the floor saying he would give no hearing and no vote. Fortunately we have senator merkley here to explain whats happening and what the applications are for the future. Sen. Merkley the indication is profound. By the way, how are you all doing . [applause] thank you for coming to this discussion, later in the day here. This is such an important issue, and it plays directly into the challenge we face in the president ial campaign. But think about the situation. Our founders wrote a constitution, and they wanted three coequal branches. They said how do we put checks and balances into place . Over here, we have the executive branch, and the have to be appointments for the executive branch. And the judicial branch, and a have to be appointments to that. Where should the appointments come from . Maybe they come from the assembly, meaning the house and the senate. They thought, if that happens they will be a lot of horsetrading backandforth, my friend for your friend, no direct account ability to the public, they will not be transparency to the public, so we will vest responsibility for nomination in a single person, the president. Then they thought, what happens if you have a president who goes off track, a president who appoints folks who are unqualified, either by experience or by character . We have to have some way of making sure that doesnt happen. So, as hamilton related bit, it, the senate would be a check on a nominee of unfit character. That was the term. Unfit character. Is this person qualified, or unqualified . But to do that, you have to have the senate vet the record and vote. Thats our job. That has been our job throughout 200 years. And suddenly, we have for the first time ever, a Senate Leadership which says no, we are not going to do our job. We are not going to that the candidate. Vet the candidate. We are not going to vote on the candidate. We are just going to sit on our hands. This is an enormously destructive, this abdication of responsibility. We have seen a lot of this at lower levels, failing to rapidly et and voteibly v for nominees from the executive branch or nominees on the lower courts, but we have never seen it at the Supreme Court level. It is a whole new phase, at the Supreme Court. So 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 , if only the president would nominate someone like Merrick Garland, than we would have somebody we could support. Reason they dont have a in terms of qualifications to vet and vote no. And they dont want to be accountable for basically personally voting against somebody who is qualified. So they are just going to you have to understand, this is court packing. This is an effort to delay the nomination to a republican president who will nominate somebody from the far right to pack the court. And i must say, i dont think the media in america have done their job to portray how destructive this is to the integrity of the court, and how wrong it is, what Mitch Mcconnell and his folks, who have signed up, pledged themselves to the constitution, to the responsibilities of being a u. S. Senator, and are abdicating that responsibility. We need to say to them, in the media needs to say to them, and the grassroots need to say to them, do your job. Lets tell them that. Lets force them to act. Meanwhile, back to your core question, it does a tremendous amount of damage to the senate, because it is failing its responsibility. Is using its advice and consent power to not maintain three coequal branches, but to try to systematically undermined the executive branch, the president , through the nominations, and now to pack the courts. So it is doing damage all the way around, and its completely unacceptable. Nan thank you. We will come back to you in a few minutes. Well said. Absolutely. Renee. Ave a question for we actually had a success here, with the texas Abortion Case. Which to justice kennedy, was surprising, but very welcome news. So, my question to you is, in this case the Supreme Court basically found that these two texas laws that were enacted by the state legislature were not enacted in order to protect Womens Health and safety, but rather were passed in order to to abortions services and to clinics. My question to you is, what is next on the agenda for the antichoice groups . That must have been a huge loss to them. What do you think we have got to look forward to . Renee it was a huge loss to them, but if anybody who has met anyone who is an antichoice activist they are persistent. Just to back up real quick, to make sure Everybody Knows what the case is about. In 2013, the state of texas passed a law called hb2, and what it did, we call them targeted regulations of Abortion Providers. It imposes these rules and restrictions on abortion clinics, and its a number of things. Thing. W was a huge it forced abortion clinics to become and literary Surgical Centers ambulatory Surgical Centers, which are like many hospitals. And for anyone who has had an abortion, like me, it is maybe a fiveminute procedure. It is not an actual surgery. They are saying, for you to have this incredibly safe procedure, you have to be in a surgical room that is like if you are having openheart surgery. It was absolutely ridiculous. They also required that Abortion Providers have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals, one, because abortion is extremely safe, you dont actually admit people to the hospital, because the competition rate is less than 1 , so hospitals are like, why would we have admitting privileges if you are not bringing us any money . So they are not giving the doctors admitting privileges. Additionally, a lot of hospitals are religiously affiliated, so as hospitals are closing and being merged, this is something we need to be careful of, because Abortion Providers are not able to get those admitting privileges, and people are not actually able to get abortions at these hospitals because of the religious beliefs of the hospital. Again, more Supreme Court issues. A couple other things. Bans abortion after 20 weeks, brought in a mandated soting period, and made it that young people could not 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, including i work at the nationa