r/DemocraticUS

One thing is clear at the end of this disastrous Supreme Court term: we need to fix the courts, and we need Democrats to prove they understand that. That can start with refusing to rubber stamp their budget hikes, but there’s in fact an even easier ask: don’t vote yes when Trump tries to stuff the federal judiciary with more reactionary foot soldiers. And alarmingly, some Democratic senators haven’t been clearing the bar.

During this Congress, our senators have asked his nominees some very basic questions, like “did Trump lose the presidential election in 2020?” and “was the U.S. Capitol attacked by a violent mob on January 6, 2021?” Every single one of them has refused to give a straight answer. Most of them have followed the very same script to dodge it. It’s been ugly, and for many of his nominees it’s just the start of what should disqualify them. Yet 19 Democrats (see list from Patrick McNeil) have voted to confirm at least one of them, refusing to draw some very basic lines for folks who will now have lifetime appointments to shape the law as they see fit.

And this failure is getting even more glaring, with some of our electeds even falling short on the blue slip test.

The blue slip process allows any senator to block a nominee for a district court judge filling a vacancy in their state. It is, frankly, an arcane tradition that Democrats should have killed when they controlled the White House and Senate. But they didn’t, letting Republicans prevent Biden from putting dozens of judges on the federal bench, and it seems like a minimal expectation we now put them to the same full use. Last month, for the first time in Trump’s second term, three Democratic senators returned blue slips and allowed Trump judicial nominees for their states to move forward – (surprise surprise) John Fetterman in Pennsylvania and Gary Peters and Elissa Slotkin in Michigan.

We have a long, hard struggle ahead of us to end the right-wing capture of the judicial branch. If we’re going to succeed, we need our electeds to be 100% engaged in the fight, not testing how much surrender they can get away with.

🗣️Let’s reach out to our Democratic senators and let them know we are expecting their total commitment to stopping Trump from stacking the bench with folks with sycophants and extremists – no yes votes on folks who won’t acknowledge reality, no blue slips returned. We can find call scripts and email language here and here, or send this message via Resistbot by texting SIGN PXSAJA to 50409. 🗣️

Also in today’s Rogan’s List:

• FINAL DAY to submit public comments opposing ICE human warehouse in Maryland
• Object to the FCC’s attack on free speech at ABC through MONDAY, apply to speak at a public hearing on proposed rollbacks on protections against forever chemicals in drinking water by day’s end TODAY
• Help progressive Manny Rutinel win a swing seat in Colorado and other primary results
• TONIGHT: Heather Cox Richardson talks about how to reclaim the 250th, Get Free rallies young activists to build on All of U.S. 250 actions

One of the main takeaways from this captured Supreme Court’s term was their complicity in subverting democracy. But they’re headed off to their busy summer of book tours and billionaire-funded vacations, and it’s our time to stand up for it – to, as the late John Lewis put it, make some Good Trouble.

We’re just over TWO WEEKS from Good Trouble Lives On, a three-day celebration of Congressman Lewis’ legacy where activists across the country will resist attacks on the right to vote with voter registration drives, helping people check their voter status, educating their community on what they’ll need to make their ballot count and more. We’ve got more than 200 events already on the books nationwide. (Rogan’s List is a proud Good Trouble Lives On partner!)

On TUESDAY at 8PM, organizers are holding a mass call to talk about this weekend of action and how we can be part of it as hosts and attendees. 📣 Folks who want to learn more or just get hyped can sign up here. 📣

MASS CALL TUESDAY

🪧 If we’re ready to get engaged in the fight for the vote post-Voting Rights Act, we can find Good Trouble Lives On events already on the books near us on the map here or on Mobilize here. 🪧

EVENTS NEAR US

And if we’re interested in being a host, there’s still time to register our events – we’ll get access to staff support, trainings and a host toolkit full of resources we can use. 💪🏿 We can join a host training TONIGHT at 7PM ET here and find a registration link here! 💪🏻

STEP UP AND HOST

Featured in today’s List:

• Deadline TODAY to submit public comments against USPS proposal to interfere with mail-in voting
• Phonebank through August 4th to stop a right-wing takeover of the Kansas Supreme Court and prevent Republicans from sabotaging the ballot initiative process in Missouri
• Tell senators to filibuster the Clarity Act, protect us from crypto corruption
• Keep calling for justice for Kohen Wiley – demand Walmart release their footage
• America turns 250 this weekend, and we’re celebrating by committing to fight for a more perfect union in the next 250 years - attend Declaration of Resistance vigils hosted by the American Friends Service Committee and Free America actions with Women’s March in communities nationwide wide for July 4th!

The Minnesota GOP put out its action agenda for the midterm election and next legislative session, and it’s pretty explicit when it comes to trans and immigrant rights, abortion access, and other priorities.

Read the Action Agenda here and the Party Platform here.

If our electeds had any doubt about the power of the data center resistance, last Tuesday’s primaries in Utah should clear it right up. Republican voters voted out two incumbent county commissioners in Box Elder County, both of whom cleared the way for multi-millionaire investor Kevin O’Leary to foist a massive hyperscale data center project on their community. Even more noticeably, GOPers also unseated Stuart Adams, the longest-serving president of the Utah State Senate in its history and one of the state’s most powerful politicians, in favor of a challenger who called him out for ignoring the public’s concerns about “the Stratos project.”

The lesson, in plain language: stop the tech bros, or we’ll replace you with someone who will.

Let’s see if our governors and state legislators got the message. 🗣️ We can find updated call scripts and email language here and here to urge them to support a moratorium on new hyperscale data centers in our state, or send or send them this message directly via Resistbot by texting SIGN PXDBHJ to 50409. 🗣️

Also in today’s Rogan’s List:

• While we’re waiting for final Supreme Court rulings, tell senators to vote no on Trump judicial nominee Benjamin Flowers
• Activists shut down hunger strikes in Adelanto, Delaney Hall – help the leaders push back against retaliation, help bond out those still locked up, and prepare to support the next round of strikes
• Phonebank to help unseat Cory Mills
• Pride Month is over, let’s commit to taking some easy actions to support the LGBTQ+ community year-round
• ICE is trying to cram 1,500 people into a human warehouse in Maryland, and Hagerstown Rapid Response is rallying folks to stop them - submit a public comment opposing the project by TOMORROW

For all of Donald Trump’s continued tantrums about the justices blocking his tariffs, the October 2025 term has mostly seen right wingers getting their usual ransom payments from the hijacked Supreme Court. It happened again this morning with a 6-3 majority vastly expanding presidential power over independent commissions.

They’ve ignored their own precedents, their claims to loyalty to the original meaning of the Constitution, history and common sense, but they’ve served well in the exact role that Trump, Mitch McConnell and Leonard Leo intended as they’ve captured this institution: the judicial arm of the Republican Party. For the sake of progressive values and our democracy, we need our leaders to take action to rebalance and rebuild the Supreme Court, as soon as possible.

That work can start right now.

Congress is currently considering the Supreme Court’s appropriations request for the next fiscal year. They’re asking for a 10% funding boost in this year’s Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act (H.R. 8495). 🗣️ Congressional Democrats can and should push back against this request and oppose this bill if it does not cut the Court’s budget. 🗣️

🗣️ We can find call scripts and email language to use with our members of Congress here and here, or text SIGN PAUAUS to 50409 to send this message via Resistbot. 🗣️

CALL OUR REPS

EMAIL OUR REPS

Given where we are in the appropriations process, the sheer number of other battles to fight in government spending, and the reality that no one’s seriously considering it yet, it’s not at all likely it will happen. But we should ask for it anyways. Why?

• It’s a useful test for how serious individual Democrats are about the change we need to fix the Court
• It’s an opportunity for us to communicate to Democratic electeds that we’re damn serious about it
• If it gains elite support, it’s a form of pressure on the justices themselves
• It helps reset the expectation in our politics that the Supreme Court will be treated as a political actor

I wrote a lot more about this you can read here.

Also in today's Rogan's List:

• Deadline TODAY to submit public comments against Trump forcing trans folks out of federally-funded shelters
• Join weekly Thursday phonebanks into a district Dems lost by 799 votes in 2024
• Activists pushing for Pennsylvania county to cancel contract with ICE, GEO Group to run detention camp - help them raise the pressure on local lawmakers
• BP doubles profits from Iran War, locks out workers trying to protect their jobs - support folks on the picket line and help feed their families
• We’re taking on the concentration camp financiers - join the De-ICE Citizens Bank Coalition TONIGHT AT 7PM ET for a webinar on how we can get our cities to divest!

Four years after the captured Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs decision, the fight for reproductive rights is as fierce as ever. Extremists may keep pushing bans and restrictions, but the resistance is strong and growing. (Read and share this summary of the last four years of attacks on abortion access.)

TODAY at 7:30 PM ET, we can join Red, Wine and Blue for a conversation about what we have learned and where we go from here. Heather Booth, founder of the Jane Collective, the underground network that helped women access safe abortions before Roe, will share what history can teach us about this moment. Jessica Valenti, founder of Abortion, Every Day (which we highly recommend a subscription to), will break down the latest attacks on reproductive rights and how people across the country are pushing back and winning. 🏫 We can find out more and sign up here. 🏫

If we want to make a commitment to take action today, there’s plenty of immediate needs. We can:

• phonebank to help preserve abortion rights at the ballot box in Missouri tonight and every Wednesday
• help challenge forced birther narratives on medication abortion with these resources
• volunteer with INeedAnA to provide up-to-date information on where people can get abortion care
• volunteer as a clinic escort near us.

Also in today’s List:

-  New reports that Trump will soon send an $80 billion request for supplemental appropriations for the Iran war he chose and lost – tell Congress hell no

-  The workers who make the World Cup work are on striking for better pay, benefits and protection from ICE in Philadelphia and Seattle – join the strike support team, donate to strike funds here, here and here

-  Anti-ICE protesters sentenced to decades in prison - show solidarity with the Prairieland defendants

-  Power hour at 3PM ET this afternoon to advocate for a pro-Palestinian advocate and longtime Milwaukee community leader targeted for deportation by ICE

- Primary round-up: Conley to take on Lawler in key race to House majority, Matt Dunlap all that stands between us and Congressman Paul LePage

- Trump wants to silence whistleblowers with a gag order on every federal employee - submit public comments through Friday against this chilling move

Republicans on the Senate Agriculture Committee released their discussion draft version of the Farm Bill. The good news is that the “cancer gag” preventing lawsuits against pesticide companies and the EATS Act blocking state public health, safety and animal welfare laws are out. The (admittedly anticipated) bad news is that they’re making no effort to roll back the cuts to food aid or delay the cost-shift to the states from the MAGA murder budget.

More than four million people lost access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) from the bill passing through March, including more than 750,000 children, and we all know it’s not because the economy’s doing so great. (See the impact by state here.) Food banks are under stress. Farmers already burdened by tariffs and price spikes from the Iran War are losing out on business. Only the billionaires whose tax cuts this is covering are winning. And some of the worst changes aren’t even in effect yet.

Typically, the Farm Bill is thoroughly bipartisan, in no small part because it includes both farm aid and food aid. The Republicans aren’t living up to their side of the bargain. They will need Democratic votes to break the filibuster, which means a united Democratic front has leverage. We need to be demanding they use it, especially after 14 Democrats provided the necessary votes to pass it in the House. 🗣️ We can find an email tool and language to use for calls to our senators from the Food Research & Action Center here. 🗣️

Also in today’s Rogan’s List:

• On Capitol Hill: Trump admits need for fossil fuel windfall profits tax (sort of) and asks for $67.1 billion for the war we didn’t want
• Join in midterm weekends of action for Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Western North Carolina
• Get Free and 50501 lead a pre-July 4th mass mobilization on Saturday
• Light up the phonelines to the Surprise City Council to stop an ICE warehouse, public comment to do the same in Maryland
• Material support for trans people in the face of MAGA attacks

Yesterday the Supreme Court shot down challenges to Trump ending Temporary Protected Status for about 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians currently living completely legally in the United States, saying the courts were barred from reviewing them and the President’s very public racist comments about Haitians were insufficient to show racial animus. They have paved the way for one of the largest mass de-documentations in American history. More than a million other TPS recipients are now at risk.

This is brutal, and our chances of successfully stopping it at this point are very small. But we are not going to surrender while we have any opportunity left to fight. The House actually passed a bill to preserve TPS for the Haitian community in April after a successful discharge petition, with 11 Republicans in favor. 🗣️ The Haitian Bridge Alliance is now asking us to contact our senators and urge them to push for a vote on S.4814 in the upper chamber. We can find language to work from here. 🗣️

CONGRESS *COULD* STOP THIS

⚙️ The International Refugee Assistance Project has pulled together more information on where we are with TPS by country and how folks can prepare if they are going to lose their TPS status here that we can circulate. We can also spread word about the Haitian Bridge Alliance hotline for legal and humanitarian aid at 619-693-8708. ⚙️

RESOURCES FROM IRAP

HAITIAN BRIDGE ALLIANCE HOTLINE

🤜🏻 And if we’re in an area with large Haitian and Syrian communities, this is a great time to connect with our local rapid response networks before their TPS is set to expire on July 27th. We can find one near us here. 🤛🏿

GET READY

Also in today's Rogan's List:

• Organizers got Jersey City to divest $265 million from Citizens Bank over their financing of the ICE camps - learn how they did it Monday, join the De-ICE Citizens Bank Coalition’s next day of action July 18th
• Trump proposes non-disclosure agreements for federal workers to keep his misdeeds secret - FINAL DAY to submit public comments to say no
• Stand with Kansas City tenant organizers and demand their landlord keep his word
• A state-by-state guide to pre-registering future 18-year-olds to vote
• This week’s judges to thank