I created this pillow “case” to enumerate some of the most well-known Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) cases. Some we like, some not so much. It was designed for the National Council of Jewish Women’s (ncjw.org) BenchMark campaign, to encourage advocacy for a fair and independent federal judiciary. But it’s not just the Supreme Court that matters—the lower federal courts decide the vast number of cases that affect our lives. The president, senators, and other elected officials serve their terms. Federal judges, however, serve for a lifetime. So courts matter: to us, to our children, and to our grandchildren.
According to the Constitution, the President nominates federal judges, and the Senate has the duty of advise and consent…or dissent. President Trump, however, has failed to consult with senators. Instead, he has outsourced the task of choosing nominees for lifetime judgeships to far-right groups such as the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation.
This pillow is soft, and the Trump Administration, the first branch of our government, is downright feather-brained about our democratic values, our rights and civil liberties. But there will be hard lessons learned if we don’t speak up and demand integrity from the Senate–the second branch, and fight so that the third branch, the federal judiciary, is fair, empathetic, diverse –and independent of partisan politics.
