GERTNER, TRIBE JOIN TAKE BACK THE COURT ADVISORY BOARD

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (December 20, 2021) — Two members of President Biden’s Commission on the Supreme Court are joining Take Back the Court’s Advisory Board. Former U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Gertner and Carl M. Loeb University professor emeritus and professor of constitutional law emeritus at Harvard Law School Laurence H. Tribe join the board after wrapping up their work with the commission and endorsing Court expansion in a December 9 Washington Post op-ed.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome these two legal luminaries who bring decades of experience and a wealth of knowledge on issues relating to the courts,” said Take Back the Court Executive Director Sarah Lipton-Lubet. “Their expertise will be critical in guiding our work to save our democracy from the current Supreme Court.”

Support for Court expansion has surged over the last several months. Just last week, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) publicly endorsed Court expansion, adding her name to a long list of congressional cosponsors of the Judiciary Act. The Court’s rulings have become increasingly hostile towards democracy and Americans’ constitutional rights with the Court signaling its intention to eviscerate Roe v. Wade and effectively nullifying abortion rights in Texas by its failure to block S.B. 8. The right-wing majority has also gutted the Voting Rights Act, eroded workers’ rights, reinstated cruel and inhumane immigration policies, and is poised to dismantle states’ abilities to curb gun violence.

Nancy Gertner is a former U.S. federal judge and current senior lecturer on law at Harvard Law School. She was appointed to the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts by President Bill Clinton in 1994 where she spent 17 years on the bench before retiring in 2011 to teach at Harvard Law. She is a graduate of Barnard College, Columbia University, and holds an M.A. in Political Science and J.D. from Yale University. Judge Gertner is a staunch defender of civil liberties and has led a distinguished career in public service. In 2008, she received the Thurgood Marshall Award from the American Bar Association’s Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities, only the second woman to hold this honor following the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“Measures to curtail voting rights, especially of minorities, and a Supreme Court that enables those efforts, mean that a conservative supermajority — put in place through partisan manipulation by a one-term president who won a minority of the popular vote — will be entrenched for decades and decades to come,” said Gertner. “This is a uniquely perilous moment that requires a unique response. Expanding the Court is the only remedy to this threat and I look forward to working with Take Back the Court to restore judicial integrity to the highest bench in the country.”

Born in China to Russian Jewish refugees, Laurence H. Tribe entered Harvard at 16, graduating summa cum laude in mathematics in 1962. Tribe previously clerked for the California and U.S. Supreme Courts, helped draft the constitutions of South Africa, the Czech Republic, and the Marshall Islands, and has a distinguished record of successfully litigating many cases before the Supreme Court. Professor Tribe has taught at Harvard Law since 1968 and is one of just 75 professors who have ever held Harvard University’s prestigious “University Professor” title. Tribe has written more than 100 books and scholarly articles, is one of the four most frequently cited legal scholars of all time, and holds eleven honorary degrees, among other distinguished recognitions. In 2018, Tribe helped launch the 1.20.21 Project, which later evolved into Take Back the Court.

“We are at a critical moment in the great American experiment: how we proceed now will determine the fate of constitutional law for generations,” said Tribe. “We can’t afford to lose decades of progress and judicial precedent to a Supreme Court of doubtful legitimacy that has embarked on a self-reinforcing trajectory that dismantles voting rights, refuses to challenge partisan gerrymandering, and treats the domination of politics by dark money as an inalienable right. Take Back the Court has done critical work to elevate the dire need for Court expansion, and I’m excited by the opportunity to support their efforts to spare the American people and our hopes for democracy further irreparable harm.”

Founded in 2018, Take Back the Court has led the growing push for Court expansion in wake of Conservatives’ efforts to steal the Supreme Court. Republicans began their attack by denying President Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court in 2016, then confirming right-wing Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, solidifying the current 6-3 hyper-partisan majority. Since then, the Court has eroded decades of progress and upheaved judicial precedent to do the Republican Party’s bidding. The Court has dealt damaging blows to reproductive rights, climate action, common-sense gun safety regulations, workers rights’, and a litany of other issues critical to the safety and well-being of the American people.

Today, more than 100 groups and 49 members of Congress have recognized Court expansion is necessary to restore balance and integrity to the United States Supreme Court.

Take Back the Court raises awareness about the urgent need to expand the number of seats on the Supreme Court to address the theft of the court by Senator Mitch McConnell during the Obama Administration. Without adding seats, Congress will not be able to restore the right to vote, ensure reproductive freedom, protect workers, halt our climate emergency, or pass new legislation. Court expansion, which can be accomplished without a constitutional amendment, is the only reform that enables the un-rigging of the system and the restoration of democracy. Learn more: https://www.takebackthecourt.today/