To the Editor

[Moveonpac.org has a feature where you can write the editors of your local paper to fight the nuclear option. They'll tell you which local paper has the highest circulation and whether anyone has written to it yet. This is my letter to North Country This Week. I know I should be grading, but the discussion of creeping fascism on Bitch PhD was too much for me. You should all speak out too.]


To the Editor

A crucial vote is coming up in the senate, one that not everyone may be aware of, depending on the news sources you read. A radical segment of the Republican party is trying to eliminate the filibuster from the rules of the senate so that judges may be appointed by a simple majority, rather than 60 votes. The far right wing of the party failed to get all their judicial appointments last term, because they couldn’t win the support of the moderates in their own party. As a result, they have decided to change the rules so that they do not need the support of moderates.

This change is important to everyone, including people in the North Country, because it is the lynchpin of a far right wing campaign to destroy the independence of the judiciary. We need judges who interpret the law, rather than follow the whims of a political minority. The judges in the Schiavo case stood up for the law against political pressure, and now the radical right is trying to punish the whole judicial branch. If they succeed everyone will suffer.

Rob Loftis
28 Sate St.
Canton, NY 13617
315-xxx-xxxx
rloftis@stlawu.edu