Dems Must Draw A Clear, Bright Line Against Trump Judicial Nominees
No more yes votes. No more blue slips. Calls and scripts here.
Contact all members of Congress:
By phone: (202) 224-3121
By email: Congress.gov
By US mail: Representatives / Senators
By Resistbot: Resist.bot
The good news is, we are now safe from this hijacked Supreme Court for a while, with decisions on their final outstanding cases of the October 2025 term all issued yesterday. The bad news is… substantial.
While as expected the justices invalidated Trump’s executive order excluding some children born on American soil from citizenship and upheld birthright citizenship, the vote was a terrifyingly close 6-3 on what should have been an absolute no-brainer, with only the three Democratic appointees, Roberts and Coney Barrett agreeing that the 14th Amendment means what it has the last century and a half. We are a judge away from catastrophe. And this court did in fact give constitutional sanction to the bullying of trans kids and struck down limits on coordinated spending between candidates and political parties in a case that’s already being dubbed “Citizens United 2.0” and a gift to the billionaires.
Not to repeat myself, but we need to fix this court, and we need Democrats to prove they understand that. That can start with refusing to rubber stamp their budget hikes, but there’s in fact an even easier ask: don’t vote yes when Trump tries to stuff the federal judiciary with more reactionary foot soldiers. And alarmingly, some Democratic senators haven’t been clearing the bar.
During this Congress, our senators have asked his nominees some very basic questions, like “did Trump lose the presidential election in 2020?” and “was the U.S. Capitol attacked by a violent mob on January 6, 2021?” Every single one of them has refused to give a straight answer. Most of them have followed the very same script to dodge it. It’s been ugly, and for many of his nominees it’s just the start of what should disqualify them. Yet 19 Democrats (see list from Patrick McNeil) have voted to confirm at least one of them, refusing to draw some very basic lines for folks who will now have lifetime appointments to shape the law as they see fit.
And this failure is getting even more glaring, with some of our electeds even falling short on the blue slip test.
The blue slip process allows any senator to block a nominee for a district court judge filling a vacancy in their state. It is, frankly, an arcane tradition that Democrats should have killed when they controlled the White House and Senate. But they didn’t, letting Republicans prevent Biden from putting dozens of judges on the federal bench, and it seems like a minimal expectation we now put them to the same full use. Last month, for the first time in Trump’s second term, three Democratic senators returned blue slips and allowed Trump judicial nominees for their states to move forward – (surprise surprise) John Fetterman in Pennsylvania and Gary Peters and Elissa Slotkin in Michigan.
We have a long, hard struggle ahead of us to end the right-wing capture of the judicial branch. If we’re going to succeed, we need our electeds to be 100% engaged in the fight, not testing how much surrender they can get away with.
🗣️ Let’s reach out to our Democratic senators and let them know we are expecting their total commitment to stopping Trump from stacking the bench with folks with sycophants and extremists – no yes votes on folks who won’t acknowledge reality, no blue slips returned. We can find call scripts and email language below or send this message directly via Resistbot by texting SIGN PXSAJA to 50409. 🗣️
Last updated 7/1/26.
PHONE SCRIPTS
You can find contact info for your congressional delegation here. Please adjust, add, and reword as you would see fit - you will be most effective speaking in your own words!
Hi, my name is _________, and I’m a constituent from (city, zip). (If voicemail, leave street address).
Trump is packing the courts with extremists and toadies. If you can’t even admit he lost in 2020, we can’t trust you with a lifetime appointment.
I’m really frustrated with the way [YOU/SOME OF YOUR COLLEAGUES] are handling these confirmations. No Democrat should be voting to confirm any of Trump’s compromised judicial nominees. No Democrat should be returning blue slips for any of Trump’s compromised judicial nominees. [THE SENATOR NEEDS TO/I WANT THE SENATOR PUSHING THE REST OF THE CAUCUS TO] stop giving in to the GOP and fight.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
EMAIL LANGUAGE
We can send this message directly by texting SIGN PXSAJA to 50409 use this as a starting point for the standard congressional email system.
Donald Trump has been packing the courts with Federalist Society extremists and MAGA toadies. These people have been handpicked for their willingness to protect billionaires, advance a reactionary political agenda and prioritize loyalty to the President, and nothing more.
Every single one of his judicial nominees this term has refused to admit he lost in 2020 and that January 6th was a violent attack on the Capitol. If we can’t trust them to acknowledge these simple truths, we have no business trusting them with a lifetime appointment to uphold the law and the Constitution.
I’m extremely frustrated that so many Senate Democrats have been turning a blind eye to these realities and pretending everything is normal. No Democrat should be voting to confirm a judicial nominee who is so obviously compromised, and 19 of you have at least once. No Democrat should be returning blue slips for any of these nominees when they have the full power to block them, and now Senators Fetterman, Peters and Slotkin have. We need you to draw a bright and clear line.
I am asking you to commit to fighting tooth and nail against Trump’s Article III nominees, and to demand that your colleagues do the same.