John, I want to talk to you about how I’ve been feeling and thinking about court reform this summer. 

 

And truly, for the first time in a while, I’m feeling more than hopeful.

 

Activism matters. And after years of our collective advocacy and countless voices championing Supreme Court reform, President Biden at long last announced his support for a package of judicial reforms including term limits and an ethics code for the Supreme Court. To hear the president affirm, from the Oval Office, that reforming the broken court “is critical to our democracy” is a MAJOR victory for our movement. And we couldn’t have gotten here without you.

 

Biden has long had reservations about taking action to rein in the runaway court. So his taking up the mantle on this crucial issue demonstrates a few key things: 

  • Just how egregiously the the right-wing justices have abused their power and violated the bounds of their authority;
  • Just how urgent the need for reform is; and, crucially,
  • Just how strong our movement has become.

Now is not the time for us to slow down. We need to build all the momentum we can to ensure court reform succeeds. Will you support our work to do so?


As you know, we’ve fought long and hard to get here. Alongside our court expansion champions in Congress, allied organizations fighting for abortion rights, voting rights, LGBTQ+ rights, workers’ rights, climate justice and so much more, and most importantly, you, our movement is gaining serious ground in the fight to protect our rights and democracy.


And not for nothing, Mitch McConnell and his allies are scared.1


This is a watershed moment in our movement — and we’re here because of your hard work and your steadfast support. Will you help us keep that energy going?


Thank you for all that you do. With your support, we’re not slowing down — as the justices have been on their summer break, we’ve been making the case for Democrats to run against the Supreme Court and treat it as what it truly is: Donald Trump’s running mate.


Read on for an update on some of what we’ve been doing this summer to help drive that message home.
 

At Netroots Nation, the largest gathering of progressive advocates in the country, we held two key conversations with fellow thought leaders and advocates: a discussion about the urgent need to repeal the Comstock Act — a dangerous zombie law that right-wing extremists aim to weaponize in their ongoing campaign to cut off access to abortion — followed by a conversation about why Dems should run against the court this election season.


I was also a guest on the Feminist Buzzkills podcast, where the hosts and I dove into all the horrible things the Supreme Court did this term that you may not have heard about. If you’re interested, you can listen to the episode here!

At a panel convened by our friends at People's Parity Project, we spoke to lawyers, advocates, and law students about the illegitimate court majority’s ongoing power grab and the urgent need to fundamentally reform and restructure our judiciary through reforms like expansion.

We joined Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, Representative Hank Johnson (GA-04), and fellow court expansion advocates for a press conference to discuss the urgent need to add four seats to the court.


As term limits and ethics rules have their moment in the spotlight, we will continue to amplify the absolute necessity of expanding and rebalancing the court — not just to protect our rights and democracy, but also to ensure the court will not immediately strike down these other key judicial reforms as they come to pass.