The week started with great news about a victory for constitutional liberties -- one that People For the American Way Foundation supporters played a major role in achieving.

You may remember that Wendy Gonaver lost her teaching job at California State University over the "loyalty oath" required by the California Constitution for all state employees.

She was willing to sign the pledge to defend and uphold the Constitution, but wanted to include an explanatory note clarifying that she, as a Quaker, was not committing herself to take up arms. It was a simple step that would have protected her religious liberty and free speech rights, but the university said no.

People For the American Way Foundation attorneys stepped in to represent her, and more than 14,000 People For the American Way Foundation supporters signed a petition to Cal State's chancellor on Wendy's behalf. After several weeks of behind the scenes legal advocacy, backed up by media attention People For Foundation brought to the issue, Cal State agreed to a settlement that reinstates Wendy Gonaver and creates a precedent that should protect the religious liberty and free speech rights of all University employees. It's great news for Wendy and a proud moment for People For the American Way Foundation.

Fortunately, People For Foundation didn't have to go to court to protect Wendy's rights. But the fact that People For Foundation could to go court to protect her rights was critical. Having experienced legal advocates defending the Constitution matters. And having courts that will uphold the Constitution matters.

And that's something you'll be hearing a lot more about this year.

Some conservatives think hammering on the subject of judges and the Supreme Court is the best way to rally their base for November's election. The McCain campaign and the RNC are running deceptive ads that paint so-called 'strict constructionist' (read "ultraconservative") judges as the constitutional ideal. And Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia just this past Sunday delivered a speech in which he openly attacked a key constitutional principle that the Supreme Court has upheld -- that the government cannot favor religion over nonreligion.

Of course, Scalia's got it wrong. And religious liberty -- the freedom to worship however you see fit, or not to worship at all, without government support or coercion -- is just one of a long list of rights and liberties that are at risk if the Supreme Court gets one or two more justices in the mold of Scalia, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts or Samuel Alito (the Court's hard right bloc). Make no mistake, Roe and a woman's constitutional right to choose will be gone. Achieving equality for all Americans will be much harder -- and progress toward that ideal may well be rolled back. Government efforts to protect the environment would be severely constrained, but there will be virtually no checks on abuse of power by a president who asserts, like George W. Bush, that he has the power to decide which laws and constitutional protections he will ignore.

That's why People For continues to produce the research and the resources to help you and other activists across the country Save the Court. It's research that sets the record straight on Bush judges and senators like John McCain and Norm Coleman. And resources like the McCain Judges Translation Guide and the new McCain "pop-up" YouTube video.

And then there's the recently spiffed-up Top Ten Reasons to Save the Court in November, now a slide show. I'll be a little bit of a spoiler and tell you that the last reason in the countdown (number one) is George W. Bush. The movie Recount, currently playing on HBO, gives us a powerful reminder of how very much damage the Supreme Court can do -- and did -- in the Bush v. Gore case. It defines as well as anything just why -- and how much -- Courts Matter.

It also reminded me of the billboard People For the American Way put up this past winter bringing this exact same message -- Courts Matter -- to the New Hampshire public and members of the press who were in that state covering the first primary in the 2008 elections. In a similar effort to get the message out through advertising, we're working on web ads to counter the ones the GOP already has up.

The tools mentioned above and more are available for you to download at www.SaveTheCourt.org. And there's still time to enroll in Young People For's latest Progressive Academy Online course, starting June 9, "The Federal Courts at a Crossroads: Our Rights and the Courts' Future at Stake in an Election Year." It's available to activists of all ages and from all regions who want to become experts on the federal courts.

As always, thank you so much for your continued support. None of this work would be possible without it.