Why there’s hope to win on SCOTUS
I’ve worked in DC for close to a decade including on judicial nominations. When Barrett was nominated people ask me, after Kavanaugh, do we really have a chance to keep her off the Supreme Court? I answer with a resounding yes, if we all do our part and are as loud as possible.
At Lawyers for Good Government, we’re getting close with our sign-on opposition letter — if you are an attorney, law student, or law professor, please join it now.
It’s true we had a loss with Kavanaugh, but I have been fighting Trump’s extreme nominees since he started nominating them — I helped stop three of them: Brett Talley, Jeff Mateer, and Thomas Farr.
But my best example of why I know we can win today is a story about my friend Peter and the Affordable Care Act.
Peter Morley (@morethanmysle) and I met through Twitter in 2017. Peter has lupus, a chronic debilitating auto-immune disease, which requires $120,000 worth of drugs to treat a year. Peter can’t afford those drugs by himself, so he relies on Medicare and Medicaid.
He would literally die if the Affordable Care Act were repealed.
In Summer 2017, pundits said that the Affordable Care Act was sure to be repealed. Peter was rightfully scared, and he had the idea to come to DC to tell his story to anyone who would listen. I encouraged Peter to do so, and given his condition, I offered to take the day off and help him around the Senate office buildings. He later told me he talked to friends and family about it, and I was the only one who encouraged him to do so.
Everyone else said he wouldn’t make a difference. They were wrong.
On July 27, 2017, the day everyone thought the Senate would vote to repeal the ACA, Peter and I walked around the Senate office buildings, live-tweeting his trip. Peter told his story to front desk staffers in many offices. Without appointments, he managed to get meetings with healthcare staffers for seven Senators, including Senator John McCain. That staffer had a friend who had recently been diagnosed with lupus. Peter told her his story — it was quite emotional.
Just a few hours later, early in the morning of July 28, Senator John McCain gave his famous thumbs down vote and the Affordable Care Act was saved.
I didn’t promise Peter victory. I don’t know if that staffer ever talked to Senator McCain about Peter. I don’t know if Peter made the difference, but I knew if he tried Peter would make a difference. He did. Now it’s time for all of us to follow Peter’s example.
Don’t be a pundit who sits back and lets others tell you how the future will unfold. Be like Peter and be an activist. Ignore the pundits and shape the future with your actions.
If you are an attorney, law student, or law professor, please join L4GG’s letter opposing Judge Barrett. Ask every lawyer, law professor, and law student you know to do the same. But don’t stop there; think of what tools you have at your disposal and use them.
If you don’t think you have anything more you can do, think more like Peter. Peter had a chronic condition and a fear the ACA would be repealed, and with those alone, he made a real difference.
Adam Fernandez
Vice President of Policy and Strategic Engagement
Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG)
@AdamaEsq
Update: Since July 2017, people started sharing their own healthcare stories with Peter, and he made 32 trips to DC and delivered thousands of healthcare stories to continue to protect the ACA. Peter even was invited to testify before Congress three times. All of that happened because in Summer 2017, Peter took a risk. Let’s all follow Peter’s example together.
