Things You Can Do Right Now

1. Contact our senators and urge them to vote "no" on H.R. 29, the Laken Riley bill. The House passed this really bad bill on Jan. 7. On Jan. 9, the Senate voted 89-9 to start debate on the bill. It will require 60 votes to pass, so the GOP will need seven Democratic senators to vote in favor of it to get the bill passed and on convicted felon Trump's desk.

2. Contact President Biden and urge him to order the U.S. Archivist to publish the Equal Rights Amendment in the Federal Register. This is the final step necessary to make the ERA the duly ratified 28th Constitutional Amendment.

3. Urge President Biden to pardon members of the House subcommittee that investigated Jan. 6. Democrats like Sen. Adam Schiff, who participated in the two impeachments of Trump during his first term, should be pardoned. Biden should also pardon Dr. Fauci, generals Milley, Kelly and McChrystal, Lt. General Mattis, Lt. Colonel Esper, and Navy admirals Mullen and Stavridis, everyone who participated in the Mueller investigation and everyone on Jack Smith's team. Because they have done nothing wrong, it is unlikely they will accept pardons, but the offer should still be made. Trump has nominated Pam Bondi for Attorney General, and she is on the record as advocating for "investigating the investigators."

4. Push our senators to work with the "sane" Republican senators to oppose the nominations of Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, RFK Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tulsi Gabbard as director of national security, Mehmet Oz as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Kash Patel as director of the FBI. Putting vaccine critic Dave Weldon in charge of the CDC also rates as a "worst."

5. Urge Merrick Garland (202-353-1555) to release to the public Volume 2 of Jack Smith's report on his investigation of the stolen classified documents. Judge Aileen Cannon blocked the release on Jan. 7. The DOJ appealed Cannon's order, and on Jan. 9, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned it but left Cannon's three-day block in place. That block expired Sunday night. The battle continued on Monday, Jan. 13 with Trump filing another motion asking Cannon to extend her injunction prohibiting the report's release until they can appear in court and argue their case directly to her. She has scheduled a hearing for Jan. 17. It appears that there is only a classified version of Volume 2 that will be given to Congress, if it is ever given.

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Score Card

Good news! President Biden has done one of the things we asked him to do before leaving office: commute to life in prison without possibility of parole the sentences of 37 of the 40 inmates on federal death row. The remaining three are Dylann Roof for the 2015 murder of nine people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, Robert Bowers for the 2018 murder of 11 worshipers at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for murdering three people near the finish line at the Boston Marathan in 2013.

Good news! It appears the DOJ will release Volume 1 of Jack Smith's report at midnight, Jan. 13.

Bad news! S.2074, the PRESS Act, was not passed in the 118th Congress. The PRESS Act would prohibit the federal government from compelling journalists and providers of telecommunications services (e.g., phone and internet companies) to disclose certain protected information, except in limited circumstances such as to prevent terrorism or imminent violence.