Graphic featuring two images of AFJ President Rakim Brooks - blue and red filtered and not - with the text ''PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE''

Hi John,

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

AFJ has been leading the campaign to document the toll that Thomas’s corruption has taken on justice at our highest court, and to build public pressure for his resignation, ever since the first Harlan Crow revelations more than six months ago.

Thomas’s recent decision to finally recuse from a case in which he has an irrefutable conflict of interest – relating to evidence detailing his former clerk John Eastman’s attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election – shows that the pressure from our movement really matters.

It especially matters given the monumental issues before the court in the term that began two weeks ago: Domestic abusers regaining access to guns, fair enforcement of the ADA, allowing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to protect consumers, and whether the courts will permit federal regulation of big business. The Supreme Court will decide cases on all this and so much more this term.

As we do each year, AFJ has created a handy guide to what we see as the most crucial cases this term, identifying what’s at stake at each case, what the dates are for oral arguments, and analysis of key cases already argued.

Finally, have a listen to my wide-ranging conversation with Marc Elias about what’s at stake in transforming our whole judiciary on Democracy Docket's Defending Democracy podcast.

Yours in the fight,

Rakim

Sign our Justice Thomas Resign petition.

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Federal Courts

In the fight to fill every federal court vacancy with a champion of equal justice, recent confirmations include U.S. Magistrate Judge Brendan Abell Hurson, to the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, and Susan K. DeClercq, 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, 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.

Among nominations recently announced by the White House, we are particularly excited to highlight the nomination of Professor Sarah Russell to the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut. She’s 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.

State Courts

AFJ’s state courts team applauds North Carolina Gov. Cooper for appointing former civil rights attorney Allison Riggs to the North Carolina Supreme Court. Justice Riggs is the youngest woman to serve on the court, and previously served on the North Carolina Court of Appeals. She has confirmed that she plans to run in 2024 to keep her seat for a full eight-year term on the court.

Connecticut Gov. Lamont’s nominee to the state’s supreme court, long-time career prosecutor Nora Dannehy, was confirmed last month by the legislature. AFJ testified at her Judiciary Committee hearing in September, emphasizing the importance of increasing both demographic and professional diversity on the Connecticut Supreme Court.

AFJ’s state courts team is continuing to work closely with partners in Pennsylvania to educate and equip voters ahead of November’s state court elections for the state’s supreme court and intermediate appellate courts. Pennsylvanians can register to vote and make a plan to vote at vote.pa.

Latest Resources from Bolder Advocacy

With election season upon us, Bolder Advocacy wants to make sure your nonprofit’s voter engagement and GOTV efforts are amplified AND compliant. Our Nonprofit Voter Assistance series, created in partnership with the Democracy Capacity Project, helps nonprofits navigate these complexities.

Graphic with an outline of a person shouting into a bullhorn while holding the scales of Justice, over a blue and teal-colored image of a group of protestors

Voters elected prosecutors to reform our legal system, but now they face growing opposition. Government leaders are working to oust them, and communities must defend their valid election results. Learn how 501(c)(3) public charities can support this mission.

Lastly, don't miss our recent Rules of the Game podcast episodes on all things election activity and funding voter registration.

Our spotlighted member for October and November is Gender Justice. In case you missed it, our Member spotlight for August and September was Texas Freedom Network.

Vasu Abhiraman

Rosenthal Senior Counsel,

Building the Bench

“For so many decades, Alliance for Justice has been highlighting what’s been happening in our courts, and also very specifically the importance of the actual personnel on the courts,” Vasu Abhiraman explains. He “got the bug” for this work during his time at the ACLU of Georgia; although he worked in policy, he saw several of his colleagues involved in the process of filling two important judicial vacancies in Atlanta.

“So much of what determines our rights and our liberties is within the control of the courts, but it feels like it happens under the radar,” he adds.

Demystifying the courts is the crux of his focus at AFJ: as the Helen Rosenthal Senior Counsel for the Building the Bench program, he spearheads a national coalition that works on the pre-nominations process of filling federal and state Supreme Court judicial vacancies.

Read more.

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