May 14, 2019

Blue Slips are Really, Most Sincerely Dead Now

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I’m not going to write yet another long post about the blue slip rule and the way Republicans have abused it for the past couple of decades. I’ve already written “Republicans Eager to Ditch Blue-Slip Tradition.” And then “The Blue-Slip Rule Is On Its Last Legs.” And then “Blue Slips Are Finally Dead.” What more is there to say? We used to have a bipartisan tradition that home-state senators had to approve judicial nominees, but Republicans have chipped away at it for years and then finally broke it completely a few months ago.

Well, how about “Republicans Have Really, Truly, Demolished the Blue Slip Rule”? That’s the shape of things now:

Republicans know they’re likely to lose in 2020. The only chance for conservativism to hold onto any power at all after that is through the judiciary. It’s all they care about right now, and if they have to mow down everything in their path to pack every open judgeship in the country with a hardcore right-winger, then that’s what they’ll do.

And then in 2021 Mitch McConnell will start moaning about how mean and uncooperative Democrats are if they follow his lead and do the exact same thing. Maybe this time, though, nobody will pay him any mind.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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