Alito Vote: My Phone Message To My Senators

I live in Maine. My Senators are Snowe and Collins. Both of them are known as Republican moderates. Below is the voice mail I left with their offices. If you feel you might have any sway over your senator's vote please call (better) or email (still good) the senator's office. Feel free to use this script as a template. I spoke pretty fast because I didn't know what kind of cutoff on voicemail there would be. Both calls went through in entirety.

The message:

I am dismayed but not surprised that the Judiciary Committee has approved the Alito nomination for consideration by the full Senate.

I am asking you to oppose this nomination. I understand that it will be a difficult vote for you to oppose the combined force of your senate leadership and a president from your party.

I believe Judge Alito is the wrong person to elevate to the Cupreme Court on several counts.

One is his minimal belief in the individual rights of Americans. He eluded many questions during the hearings but his statements and decisions in the past make clear to me that he will be instrumental in rolling back our hard won liberties of the last half-century.

As minimal as his beliefs are in the individual rights of Americans, his expansive belief in the power of the executive is frankly dangerous to our republic. His notion of the unitary executive if accepted as constitutionally valid will give the president seemingly unlimited authority to do whatever he pleases. In fact it is not too strong a statement to say that if the senate does vote to elevate Judge Alito to the Supreme Court you may as well all pack up and go home because you will have effectively voted to make the senate a superfluous body.

Please you must oppose Judge Alito’s nomination to the Supreme Court.