David Stras has been nominated to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, which covers seven states in the Midwest. His confirmation will make this already conservative court even more conservative. 

  • Like other Trump nominees, Stras is an ultra-right-wing conservative who will be a good friend to big corporations, the wealthy and the powerful, at the expense of everyday Americans. As a judge, Stras has ruled against government transparency, limited the rights of children with disabilities, and failed to protect important voting rights.
  • Stras has argued that the U.S. Supreme Court should not have become involved in cases on school integration, women’s reproductive rights, and LGBTQ rights, claiming that these are merely issues of “social policy.” This position could undermine the constitutional protection for the civil rights recognized in these cases.
  • The hearing on Stras’ nomination departs from the long-standing “blue slip” tradition that allows home-state senators to approve nominees and if necessary, veto their nominations. This is just another example of the Republican leadership overturning established rules and procedures to ram through their partisan agenda. The nominee’s home-state senators, whether Republican or Democrat, and any state bipartisan commissions for nominees are cut out of the loop in vetting Trump’s picks.

Please call your senators and say:

Hi, my name is [name] and I’m a constituent calling from [zip code]. I’m calling to urge you to vote NO on the nomination of David Stras for a federal judgeship. The hearing on Stras’ nomination violates the long-standing blue slip process, and his extreme right-wing views are not what we need on the already ultraconservative Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. His judicial record shows little regard for our constitutional protections for a woman’s right to choose, racial discrimination, and LGBT rights.

To find your senators, see https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members.

Additional talking points for office visits here.

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