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Graphic featuring protesters behind the scales of justice, reading ''The Rush: Bolder Action Now: Fill Every Seat'' [[link removed]]

Last Monday, October 2nd, marked the beginning of the Supreme Court’s 2023 term, during which it will hear cases that could have major implications for gun control, disability rights, economic justice, and more [[link removed]] . Up first? Oral arguments in criminal justice sentencing case Pulsifer v. United States [[link removed]] , another challenge to the constitutionality of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) , [[link removed]] and a hotel’s effort to dodge accountability under the Americans with Disabilities Act [[link removed]] , which turned 33 this year.

Although the Court’s least just Justice, Clarence Thomas, has finally recused himself from a case [[link removed]] , he offered no explanation and evidence of his ethical transgressions continues to mount. The latest reporting from ProPublica [[link removed]] shows Thomas recently (and secretly) attended at least two far-right donor summits, helping uber-conservative activists raise funds to bring cases before the Supreme Court in pursuit of even more right-wing outcomes.

Not only did Justice Thomas participate in the 2018 winter donor summit organized by the Koch brothers (libertarians Charles and his late brother David Koch) he refused to so much as disclose the private flight to Palm Springs for said summit in his annual financial disclosure [[link removed]] report— another [[link removed]] all-but-certain violation of the Ethics in Government Act as well as the Code of Conduct [[link removed]] for the federal judiciary, which applies to every federal judge except the justices.

In a new ad campaign [[link removed]] that ran on the Washington Post's website as baseball's postseason began, Alliance for Justice sent a message to the Court: Justice Clarence Thomas is well past his three strikes [[link removed]] and it’s high time he’s out.

The Good News
On the judicial nominations front, senators continue to make progress on filling vacancies [[link removed]] even as they mourn the passing of Senate Judiciary Committee colleague Senator Dianne Feinstein [[link removed]] .
Last week’s confirmations include U.S. Magistrate Judge Brendan Abell Hurson [[link removed]] , to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, and Susan K. DeClercq [[link removed]] , who will join the bench in the Eastern District of Michigan. DeClercq, who spent nearly two decades at the district’s U.S. Attorney’s Office enforcing civil rights laws, will be Michigan’s first federal judge of East Asian descent.

These developments follow the long-awaited confirmation of Judge Rita Lin [[link removed]] , whose nomination had been pending since July 2022, to the District Court for the Northern District of California. Judge Lin, who’d been serving as a judge on the Superior Court of San Francisco since 2018, will be the second Asian American woman—and first Taiwanese American woman—to serve on the District Court for the Northern District of California.

Additionally, the Senate confirmed Judge Vernon Oliver to sit on the U.S. District Court in Connecticut on September 19th, and Philip Hadji as a Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims on September 21st.

Last Wednesday, the White House announced President Biden’s 39th slate of nominees [[link removed]] to the federal courts. The two new district court nominations and latest circuit court nomination bring the administration’s total number of judicial nominations to 191. The administration nominated Judge Edward S. Kiel, a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the District of New Jersey, to that district court, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth R. Aframe to the U.S. Court of

Appeals for the First Circuit.
We are particularly excited to highlight the nomination of Professor Sarah Russell to the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut. A former public defender who has focused much of her scholarship on criminal justice reform and her practice on advocating for the individuals and communities facing the greatest disadvantages in our justice system, Russell has taught at Quinnipiac
University School of Law since 2011, overseeing its Civil Justice Clinic.
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What's Next?
AFJ will be hosting in-person Justice Trivia on Thursday, October 12th , at Stoney's on P Street NW in DC. Free drinks! Free food! Fabulous facts and righteous company! Register here. [[link removed]]

If you weren’t able to attend our latest Holding Court, worry not: "Tomorrow on Trial: Holding Court for Our Future," held Thursday, October 5th is available online [[link removed]] ! Our panel, moderated by Elyssa Feder, the Executive Director of Rising Organizers, features AFJ’s Rachel Bracken as well as People’s Parity Project Program Director Tristin Brown in discussion about how our courts will affect future generations.

Donate today to help us keep up The Rush. [[link removed]]
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