Help Stop the Marriage Amendment: Oppose Writing Intolerance into the

[Catfight]

Constitution:
From:
Matt Howes, National Internet Organizer, ACLU
To:
ACLU Action Network Members
Subject:
Help Stop the Marriage Amendment: Oppose Writing Intolerance into the Constitution


1) Help Stop the Marriage Amendment
2) Stop Congress from Stripping Power from the Judicial Branch

The House of Representatives will soon engage in yet another round of election-year politics by voting on the highly controversial marriage amendment. This dangerous amendment was successfully defeated in the Senate but the Republican House leaders want to assuage their radical right base and provoke the Democrats with a divisive vote. We need your help to make sure Congress gets the true message: the American public does not want to write discrimination into the Constitution.
This amendment is an unnecessary and ill-advised attempt to use the Constitution as a tool of bigotry and discrimination. It would deny the right to marry to gay and lesbian couples and in doing so obliterate the family rights that many same-sex couples -- and unmarried heterosexual couples -- and their families now have. This is wrong regardless of it being an election year or not -- and the proposed amendment should be stopped cold.
Furthermore, the proposed amendment would reverse the constitutional tradition of protecting individual freedoms. None of our constitutional amendments restrict individual freedoms. The proposed amendment, by contrast, would deny all protection for the most personal decisions made by millions of people in committed long-term relationships and force states to adopt discriminatory policies.
Take Action! Urge your Representative to protect the Constitution by opposing this amendment.
Click here to get more information and to take action:
http://www.aclu.org/LesbianGayRights/LesbianGayRights.cfm?ID=9977&c=101
2) Stop Congress from Stripping Power from the Judicial Branch
Congress is attempting to seize power from the judicial branch with highly controversial legislation that would prohibit all federal courts established by Congress from even hearing cases concerning the Pledge of Allegiance and the First Amendment. Rather than spending the few weeks left this session on legislation designed to address the many critically issues facing our country, the Republican leadership is planning to fast-track this proposed legislation to the House floor.
The judicial branch plays an important role in reviewing legislation and ensuring that it is consistent with the Constitution. By tying the hands of the federal courts, Congress is trying to restrict the courts’ role as a system of checks and balances, and thereby limiting the ability of the courts to protect the Constitutional rights of all Americans.
This is not the first court-stripping bill this year. In fact, Members of Congress has been aggressively pursuing court stripping this session in several areas and may expand their focus even further. We need to stop this trend before federal courts are prohibited from hearing cases on everything from gun control to abortion
Congress needs to focus on real priorities and stop its relentless attack on courts and the Constitution. This is a perversion of proper legislative process and needs to be stopped.
Take Action! Congress should not be allowed to stop the federal courts from protecting the constitutional rights of all Americans.
Click here to get more information and to take action:

http://www.aclu.org/FreeSpeech/FreeSpeech.cfm?ID=16436&c=42


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