In Rossis Mail Box

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Hi roselyn,

In the midst of the ongoing tragedy on the Gulfcoast, Chief Justice William Rehnquist passed away this Saturday night. We have some recommendations below for where to make Katrina recovery donations, but first we want to briefly discuss some consequences of President Bush's decision yesterday to nominate Judge John Roberts to fill Rehnquist's position as Chief Justice. Once again, the question becomes: who will fill Sandra Day O'Connor's robes?

Now more than ever – the arguments for a consensus nominee resound.

In early June we started DraftPrado.org to encourage President Bush and the U.S. Senate to consider a consensus choice for the Supreme Court. In July, because of your efforts, Judge Prado was one of three consensus choices Senators Reid and Leahy suggested to President Bush.

We 'drafted' Judge Prado because he is the kind of judge who can bring Americans together. As a member of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, he sat in New Orleans. As a former public defender, prosecutor, and District Judge in San Antonio, he understands the challenges that poor and working class Americans face everyday – even when there is no hurricane bearing down upon them. As a Latino American, Ed Prado would make an historic nominee – the first Latino Supreme Court Justice.

We believe we can still find a common ground in America. Once again, we call on President Bush to consider Judge Prado or someone like him – a nominee who will be a uniter, not a divider to replace Sandra Day O'Connor. (You can learn more about Judge Prado and send a message on our website.)

HURRICANE KATRINA RELIEF

Many organizations are sending out emails suggesting where you can make contributions to help support the victims of Hurricane Katrina and the shockingly inadequate initial Federal response. We encourage you to do your own research to select the organizations that you believe can help the most – but we also want to take a moment to recommend three organizations that we think are doing important work. Each of the three are working to both immediately help thousands of victims, but also to guarantee a better future for them in the longer term.

The AFL-CIO's Union Community Fund is providing direct relief to working families that have been devastated by the hurricane.
Contribute to the AFL-CIO’s Union Community Fund

ACORN is national community organization headquartered in New Orleans that fights to defend the social and economic rights of low and moderate income families -- those impacted most severely by the recent destruction. Their headquarters have been destroyed and they have established a special fund to relocate their national offices and continue the work they do in the Gulfcoast region and around the country.
Contribute to Acorn

SEIU is America’s largest union. More than 2500 of its members have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. SEIU has set up an emergency fund to help get them back on their feet and get them back to work.
Contribute to the SEIU Hurricane Relief Fund

Thank you,

Arkadi, Marc, and Tim for the whole team at DraftPrado.org and StartChange.org