FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Save the Date: Senators Markey & Smith, Representative Jones to Speak at Rally 4 Our Future in Support of Court Expansion on Oct. 26

Take Back the Court, People’s Parity Project host lawmakers, progressive activist Ady Barkan and others to urge restoration of SCOTUS judicial integrity to save our democracy

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (September 30, 2021) — Today, Take Back the Court and People’s Parity Project announced a Rally 4 Our Future featuring Senator Ed Markey, Senator Tina Smith, Congressman Mondaire Jones, progressive activist Ady Barkan, and other leading voices for Supreme Court reform. The rally will be held on Tuesday, October 26 at 3 p.m. EDT on the steps of the United States Supreme Court building in Washington, marking the one year anniversary of the subversive confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Speakers will urge Congress and the Biden Administration to restore balance to the Supreme Court by adding four seats. Jess McIntosh, co-host of the award-winning SiriusXM radio show Signal Boost with Zerlina and Jess, will serve as master of ceremonies for the event.

The rally is being organized in partnership with Indivisible and The Center for Popular Democracy. In conjunction with the event, People’s Parity Project is organizing a nationwide day of action on law school campuses.

“Since Justice Barrett’s confirmation — and over the last few weeks especially — we’ve watched the current hyper-partisan conservative majority actively engage in dismantling our democracy and fundamental rights,” said Take Back the Court Executive Director Sarah Lipton-Lubet. “As long as Conservatives remain in hardened control of the Court, any and all progress towards equality, justice and freedom in America remains at stake. We can not allow an illegitimate majority of the Supreme Court to enshrine minority rule, and the only way to prevent this catastrophe is to expand the Court.”

“This past SCOTUS term is only a preview of a radically conservative Court that is willing to weaponize its power to flagrantly trample over people's constitutional rights,” said People’s Parity Project Policy & Program Director Tristin Brown. “We cannot afford to continue playing a wait and see game with an illegitimate and unaccountable Court that has already cost the most vulnerable autonomy over their own decisions and lives. The only viable option remaining is to expand the Court now.”

Coney Barrett was nominated almost exactly one year ago, and rushed to confirmation in a process that lasted barely a month and concluded after voting was already underway in the 2020 presidential election. By breaking their own cynically contrived “McConnell rule” against confirming Supreme Court justices during a presidential election year, Republicans dealt the latest in a series of blows to the Court’s integrity and independence. Since then, Republicans on the Court have launched a barrage of attacks on Americans’ fundamental rights. In the last year alone, they have further gutted the Voting Rights Act, permitted discrimination against LGBTQ families, cracked down on union organizing, launched a cruel, xenophobic foray into dictating foreign policy, invited mass evictions during a pandemic, and effectively erased Roe v. Wade.

Adding seats is the only pragmatic, proportional solution to restore balance to the stolen Supreme Court and end its assault on Americans.

Confirmed rally speakers as of this release include:

U.S. Senator Ed Markey (D-MA)

U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN)

U.S. Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY)

Ady Barkan, Founder of Be a Hero and Organizer with Center for Popular Democracy Action

Jess McIntosh, Co-host of SiriusXM Progress’ Signal Boost

Tristin Brown, Policy and Program Director, People’s Parity Project

Americans affected by the Supreme Court’s decisions

Additional speakers will be announced as they are confirmed.

For more information visit www.rally4ourfuture.org.

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/