For Immediate Release

SUPREME COURT LIKELY TO STRIKE DOWN NEW CLIMATE LAWS

New Study Suggests Next President Must Protect Climate Policy from Partisan Court

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – A new study released today argues that the Supreme Court is likely to strike down any new climate change laws that the next President and Congress manage to enact. According to the study, the Court’s conservative justices, “have become increasingly emboldened to embrace radical theories for partisan reasons…[and] have an array of dubious legal interpretations at their disposal for dismantling climate change legislation.” The study was released by Take Back the Court (TBtC) and co-authored by Yale Law School professor and TBtC advisory board member Samuel Moyn and TBtC director Aaron Belkin.

According to Belkin, “Desperately needed climate change legislation is unlikely to survive judicial review because the stolen Court usually acts like a partisan shil, embracing implausible doctrine to promote the policy preferences of the Republican party. The next President must protect new climate legislation from Justices Roberts and Kavanaugh, and the only realistic way to do that is to expand the Court.” Take Back the Court (formerly Pack the Court) is a judicial reform organization that argues that court expansion is the only judicial reform option capable of preventing the conservative majority from destroying democracy.

Brian Fallon, executive director of Demand Justice, added that "Given the urgent crisis we face from climate change, it would be foolish to leave our fate in the hands of Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch. Democrats proposing bold ideas like the Green New Deal must understand that their proposals will never survive without Supreme Court reform. This report highlights just how much of a threat climate activists face from Trump's Court-packing and how necessary it is to pair judicial reform with any solution on climate."

Conservative activists -- funded by fossil fuel donors such as the Koch brothers -- have plotted for decades to seize control of the judiciary for just such a purpose as striking down climate change laws. Mitch McConnell and his fellow partisans adjusted the size of the Supreme Court in 2016-2017 when they promised to limit the bench to eight members as long as a Democrat was president, only to confirm Neil Gorsuch as soon as Donald Trump occupied the White House.

Read the full report HERE.

About Take Back the Court

The Supreme Court has broken democracy by dismantling the Voting Rights Act, allowing dark money to flood our politics, and approving partisan gerrymandering. The mission of Take Back the Court is to educate the public about the urgency of court expansion as the only judicial reform option capable of restoring democracy.

For more information, visit us at www.takebackthecourt.today and follow us on twitter @TakeBacktheCt.