Indivisibles,
Phew! What a week! Oh...it’s only Monday…
To kick-off our Monday morning, the Supreme Court gave us one win and one
loss. Thankfully, the win is a major one: in a 5-4 decision, the Court
struck down a Louisiana law that would have made it nearly impossible to
obtain an abortion. We were pleasantly surprised by this outcome
considering that Chief Justice John Roberts, who joined the four liberal
justices to uphold the law, is famously hostile to abortion. But let’s be
clear: Chief Justice Roberts made his decision based on a technicality
(that the Court should abide by precedent), not because he believes that
women or trans folks who need abortions deserve to make decisions for
themselves.
In even less shocking news, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who you might
remember [ [link removed] ]successfully fooled Senator Susan Collins into believing he
was committed to upholding Roe v. Wade, joined the dissent that would have
upheld Louisiana’s anti-abortion measures. All of this is a reminder that,
while this might be the outcome we wanted, our values will be under attack
until we can take back the courts.
And now, on to the loss: the Court ruled that the way the Consumer
Financial Protections Bureau (CFPB) is structured is unconstitutional. The
CFPB (an independent agency whose jurisdiction includes banks, credit
unions, securities firms, payday lenders, mortgage-servicing operations,
foreclosure relief services, debt collectors and other financial companies
operating in the United States) is headed by a single director who is
confirmed by the Senate and serves a five-year term. Before this decision,
there were reasonable limits on the president’s power to fire the CFPB
director. But the conservative justices on the Supreme Court disagreed.
Now, the director of the CFPB can be fired at-will by the president, doing
away with that whole promise of keeping the CFPB independent from the
executive. It remains to be seen how this case might be applied to other
independent government agencies that are structured the same way (like the
Federal Reserve) -- but for now it’s a pretty big gift to presidential
power.
Now that the Supreme Court has your attention, we leave you with our
weekly to-dos:
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Your 5 weekly to-dos
1. [ [link removed] ]Register for our Fight Back for Fair Courts Virtual Rally. With the
mixed-bag of SCOTUS decisions we’ve received recently, it’s clear that the
courts have a big impact on our lives. That’s why we want you to register
NOW to join Take Back the Court, Indivisible, and Demand Justice in our
fight to press for court reform. Join Senator Elizabeth Warren,
Representative Ilhan Omar, Representative Ro Khanna, NY-17 Democratic
nominee Mondaire Jones, Alicia Garza, W. Kamau Bell, and Dan Pfeiffer
TOMORROW, June 30th at 8pm EST for an hour-long live virtual protest on
Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube.
2. [ [link removed] ]Call your Senators and demand they cosponsor the D.C. statehood
bill. This historic bill passed in the House last week, acknowledging that
D.C.’s 700,000+ residents live without their constitutional rights as
Americans, lacking full representation in Congress and control over their
own affairs. A historically-Black city, D.C.’s lack of statehood is a
remnant of Reconstruction when racist white politicians sought to prevent
the District’s plurality of Black residents from gaining political power.
[ [link removed] ]Check out our resource about why D.C. statehood is a racial justice
issue and call your Senators to demand they support D.C. statehood.
3. [ [link removed] ]Call your Senators and demand they pass the Heroes Act without
watering it down. Unemployment insurance benefits from the CARES Act are
set to run out on July 31. We must extend and expand coronavirus relief
legislation -- vulnerable people across the country are depending on it.
4. [ [link removed] ]Check out our final episode of our Youtube series, COVID Corruption.
In our fifth and final episode, we discuss how Republicans want to protect
corporations who are putting their employees at risk of contracting
coronavirus.
5. [ [link removed] ]Call your local officials to express your support for defunding the
police, ICE, and CBP. So many of you joined the fight to support and
protect people of color from state sanctioned violence, but the truth is a
lot of that work has to happen locally, in your town and cities. Call your
local officials and demand that they defund the police and invest those
funds in resources. If you need more context, check out our latest video
where we explain exactly what we mean by [ [link removed] ]#DefundThePolice.
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2020 Update
July 27 marks 100 days until the general election. We’re giving it our all
over the next 100 days to defeat Donald Trump in November -- but we need
all the help we can get. That means rallying behind Joe Biden as the
Democratic nominee and doing everything we can to make sure he becomes our
next president. If you’re committed to beating Trump, make sure you’ve
signed our [ [link removed] ]2020 Indivisible Pledge.
We have every intention of beating Trump -- but we already have a feeling
he won’t go quietly. That’s why [ [link removed] ]Indivisible and Stand Up America
recently announced the launch of Protect the Results, a joint initiative
seeking to protect the valid results of the 2020 election. Why are we
doing this? Because in 2016, Trump [ [link removed] ]repeatedly threatened to not accept
the results of the election. Because he’s made [ [link removed] ]baseless claims of
voter fraud and has called into question the [ [link removed] ]validity of vote-by-mail.
And because he’s made [ [link removed] ]disturbing comments in recent months that he
could stay in office past 2024.
Protect the Results will build the infrastructure to mobilize millions of
Americans should Donald Trump take steps to undermine the outcome of the
election. [ [link removed] ]If you're with us, click here to learn more about how you
can Protect the Results!
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Find a Virtual Event "near" you
1. July National Activist Call
Join us and Indivisible-endorsed candidate, Alex Morse on our upcoming
National Activist Call -- a monthly space for Indivisible leaders,
members, and other activists to hear updates and connect with one
another.
Date: July 2, 2020 08:00 PM EST -- [ [link removed] ]Register here.
2. Indivisible Textbanking Training
Wondering how you can get involved in upcoming elections from wherever you
are? We’ll teach you how to start texting with the IndivisiText program on
our platform, TextOut!
Date: July 7, 2020 08:30 PM EST -- [ [link removed] ]Register here.
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Support the Payback Project and double your gift
Big news about the Payback Project: a donor has stepped up to match every
gift up to $75,000! Our four-step plan to take back the Senate is in full
swing, and we’re building the accountability and the organized movement to
win against key GOP senators in November. But it’s your help that makes it
possible: [ [link removed] ]can you donate $10 to have your gift matched, support the
Payback Project, and fund all our work?
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IndivisWin of the Week
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Over the weekend, our Rural Summit brought together 1000+ participants
from rural Indivisible groups and rural organizers in all 50 states -- and
they really showed up! We can’t help but smile thinking about everyone who
makes this movement possible. Even when the world feels like it’s on fire,
you keep giving us something to fight for and for that we thank you.
In solidarity,
Indivisible Team
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