For Immediate Release

STATEMENT FROM AARON BELKIN ON TUESDAY’S DEMOCRATIC DEBATE

On Tuesday night, for the first time in four Democratic Debates, moderators asked candidates a question about the Supreme Court. And it wasn’t just any question, but one specifically focused on Court expansion.

This is huge. Earlier this week, Take Back the Court joined with Demand Justice, Indivisible, Women’s March, Committee for a Fair Judiciary, and American Constitution Society to send a letter to the moderators asking that they finally ask about the Courts - and it worked. Now, we need to keep the momentum going to get nominees to spend more time talking about solutions.

Structural reform of the Supreme Court is critical to protecting Roe, as well as every policy discussed on the debate stage - from guns to Medicare - and so many other key issues like voting rights, LGBTQ rights, and climate change. We need to recognize that any ambitious progressive legislation is at risk with the current makeup of the stolen McConnell Court: Republicans manipulated the size of the Supreme Court in 2016-17 specifically so an activist conservative court would be in place to undermine existing laws and thwart any meaningful new progressive laws. Let’s commit to building off of this conversation by continuing to ask the next president to explain how they will protect their agenda from the stolen Supreme Court.

Aaaron Belkin is Director of Take Back The Court. During his 20 years of work on LGBT policy advocacy, he has been recognized as a leader in the effort to end DADT and the military's transgender ban.