judicial tyranny

Nathan Newman nathan at newman.org
Thu May 17 05:54:07 PDT 2001


----- Original Message ----- From: "Doug Henwood" <dhenwood at panix.com>

Nathan Newman wrote:


>As I've repeated, progressives should suck up the judicial deference to
>Congress and organize to change the fucking law. I know one reason a lot
of
>lefties like the courts is that the deux ex machina of court decisions
means
>they don't have to get their hands dirty with lesser evil decisions in the
>political realm in order to form the majorities necessary for passage of
>legislation.
-I'm pleasantly surprised by your position on this. But what do you -think would be the best way to organize to defend abortion rights? -And what dirty compromises do you imagine are involved?

Not voting for Nader as a start or claiming that there is no difference between politicians on the issue. Like rightwing pro-choice women, leftwing Greens went around promoting voting for Greens because they argued the courts would prevent choice from being lost.

Well, Nader won and Bush immediately cut off all global family planning funds to groups that advocate abortion. We just had a vote in the House to put that rule in law to cut off global family planning money to pro-choice groups around the world. While a small number of Dems and Pugs crossed lines either way, the global gag rule was overwhelming supported by the Pugs (including their leadership) and opposed by the Dems (including their leadership). If you want to defend abortion rights, vote lesser evil.

-- Nathan Newman



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