Lambda Legal whiffs one

[drscott]

I've donated a lot of money to Lambda Legal this year. My response to the mass email from Lambda Legal re: Alito:

I have read your material supporting your opposition to the Alito nomination carefully. While I agree it is reasonable to be concerned about the nominee's underlying ideological motivation, I don't find the cases you cite very convincing in that regard. You also failed to cite the cases where the nominee shows support for the rights of privacy and limits on governmental power when that power has been used to limit minority rights. In other words, I think you fail to make a case that the nominee's ideology has consistently influenced his decisions in ways designed to hurt gay people. More importantly, I suspect that this public opposition is throwing your resources and political credibility into a battle which will be lost. You can only rally the troops so many times before exhaustion sets in, and it would be wise to choose battles where there is a realistic chance of winning.

So while I am happy to support your work, I disagree with this particular stance and will not be taking action as you suggest.

The response:

Thank you for writing your senators and urging them to vote no on Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court. As the executive director of Lambda Legal, but also as an American, I believe that every judge's agenda must be a commitment to liberty, equality and justice for all. Because Alito's agenda is to his conservative politics, rather than to these core principles, Lambda Legal was forced to oppose his confirmation. I am grateful that you stand with us in our opposition.

Please consider using our Tell-A-Friend feature and asking your friends, family and colleagues to join our campaign to oppose the Alito Agenda.

Sincerely,

Kevin Cathcart
Executive Director

Tell-A-Friend Feature: http://ga4.org/campaign/courtingjustice_alito_opposition/forward/57nkgdr15xwm6b ?

"Courting Justice" Online Center: www.lambdalegal.org/courtingjustice

If you would like to update your account information, please visit your subscription management page for Lambda Legal at: http://ga4.org/lambdalegal/smp.tcl?nkey=blahblahblah

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For some reason I don't feel particularly listened to.

[addendum: Balanced article on Alito from the Blade. Harvey Silverglate (respected Boston civil rights attorney) on Alito.]

Comments

[sfmini.livejournal.com]

Probably a standard script inserted by a lambdalegal customer service representative in India.

[dr-scott.livejournal.com]

heh. That would be funny, but I suspect this is totally automated by the "GetActive" software. And by the way, how bush-league is it to let your autoresponse software insert an ad for itself in every response?

[sfmini.livejournal.com]

It would be interesting to figure out the key words the software looks for and mis-spell them, and then see the response it spits out.