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The labor movement is a key target of the right-wing judicial activists who will control the Court for decades to come.
In order to protect labor rights, we must expand the Supreme Court NOW!
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John,
Happy Labor Day! As millions of Americans celebrate the accomplishments of the labor movement today, we need to confront some harsh truths. For decades, conservatives have worked tirelessly to seize control of the judiciary. And it’s clear who has benefited the most from this consolidation of power: Republican politicians and big corporations.
Our allies in the labor movement are the most effective counterweight we have against these powerful corporate interests — so, of course, the right-wing judges on the Supreme Court have long made unions a key target. Even before Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump stole two Supreme Court seats, the Roberts Court had already issued some of the most anti-labor rulings in the Court’s history.
Unless we expand and rebalance the Court, corporate interests will continue to reign supreme over the rights of working people fighting for a living wage, dignity, and respect in their workplaces. It’s long past time we had a Supreme Court that represents the best interests of all Americans rather than just the wealthy and powerful.
Add your name to demand lawmakers stand with our allies in the labor movement by expanding the Supreme Court.
During his confirmation hearings, Chief Justice John Roberts famously declared "I will remember that it's my job to call balls and strikes, and not to pitch or bat." But when cases related to labor policy make it to the Supreme Court, the conservative justices, led by Roberts and Samuel Alito, consistently play on the same team as big business.
In case after case, the Court’s conservatives have proven unwilling to merely assess the cases before them. Instead, they invite cases that will advance their pet project of hobbling the labor movement. The Court’s 2018 decision in Janus v. AFSCME overturned over 40 years of Supreme Court precedent to make it more difficult for public-sector unions to operate.
And in the Court’s 2012 Knox v. Service Employees International Union decision, Alito, Roberts, and Clarence Thomas went so far as to call a strike on a pitch that hadn’t been thrown, breaking the Court’s own rules by imposing an opt-in requirement for union dues that plaintiffs didn’t even ask for.
Then just 2 months ago in Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, the Court gutted a 46-year-old California law allowing union organizers limited access to private property in order to organize agricultural workers. In doing so, the Court directly weakened existing workers’ rights while laying the groundwork for a challenge to a key piece of workers’ rights legislation, the PRO Act, that the labor movement is pushing Congress to pass this year.
The Supreme Court has become one of the greatest threats to American labor rights and it will only get worse unless we immediately restore balance to our judiciary by expanding the Court.
Demand the expansion of the Supreme Court now to support the labor movement and the millions of workers they represent.
In just the last few days this Court effectively overturned Roe v. Wade in Texas, resurrected Trump's cruel anti-immigrant "Remain in Mexico" policy, and overturned the CDC’s eviction moratorium. The conservative supermajority has made it clear where it stands — and it’s not with the vast majority of Americans. Now is the time to restore balance to the Supreme Court.
Thank you for joining this fight,
Sarah Lipton-Lubet
Executive Director, Take Back the Court
