Every month for years we’ve attended naturalization ceremonies and helped new American citizens register to vote. However, we’ve also queried the Board of Elections database and discovered that most of the people we register don’t actually turn out and vote.  It’s time to turn that around! You are invited to join us as we put our heads together to see how we can help New Americans feel more motivated and more prepared to vote. We’ll discuss ideas such as retaining voter contact info so that we can keep them informed as elections draw close, holding informational “Meet Your Ballot” sessions at agencies and congregations that serve New Americans and more. What’s your idea? We want to hear it. The library has plenty of parking. We’ll meet in the Story Time room.

No registration required. Feel free to bring friends.
 

Get Involved as the LWV Develops a Position on the Federal Judiciary
We’ve seen the importance of the Federal Judiciary in various ways in recent years and it has suddenly grown with the inauguration of our 47^th president, who is governing in ways unforeseen by the Constitution. The LWV expects to get involved in lobbying for new laws governing the judiciary. We have never worked in this policy arena before. Lobbying on behalf of the League only occurs after the League has studied the issues, achieved a consensus on how our values align with possible legislation and adopted a position to guide our lobbyists through the sausage-making process that legislation is.

A national committee has been grappling with the issues since June. They recently held a very interesting town hall where they brought together some legal scholars to discuss what issues might benefit from legislation. They have released a set of policy briefs. Now they want to hear from us.

On Wednesday, April 9, we will gather at 6:30pm at Third Presbyterian Church (4 Meigs Street) to go through the consensus process, considering brief statements about the federal judiciary. We will decide which proposed elements of the position we agree on and also suggest nuance or caveats we feel are important.
Leagues all around the country will go through this consensus process and the study team will take all that input and use it to draft a proposed position that will reflect a consensus of League members. In June the  LWVUS 2025 Council will decide whether to adopt the position, clearing the way for us to begin lobbying for changes to rules governing the judiciary.

In preparation, you can watch the video of the town hall, read the study guide about how the consensus process works, look at the consensus questions and read one or more of the background papers, all of which are found on our website. Come prepared to give substantive input to strengthen the League’s process.
 

Policy Briefs
Financial Disclosure Judge Shopping Judicial Ethics and Enforcement Legitimacy and the US Supreme Court Key Terms for the Federal Judiciary Study	Recusal Representation Shadow Docket Stare Decisis and Binding Precedent Structural Reforms for the US Supreme Court