For Immediate Release

TAKE BACK THE COURT DIRECTOR: “THERE IS NO MORE TIME FOR AN ACADEMIC EXERCISE”

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (July 20, 2021) — Take Back the Court Executive Director Sarah Lipton-Lubet released the following statement ahead of today’s meeting of the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court:

“It’s encouraging to see today’s meeting much more focused on structural reform, with more supporters of Court expansion — including Take Back the Court advisory board member Michael Klarman — speaking to the commission. But acknowledging that the Court has a problem and is in need of urgent reform should be the baseline requirement for this work.”

“We don’t need a commission to tell us that the Supreme Court is a threat to Americans’ rights and our democracy. But if the commission is going to exist, it should at least hear from the real people impacted by the Court in addition to elite lawyers and academics. As last Friday’s ruling against the DACA program showed, we should be hearing from DREAMers, who live ruling to ruling, worried about being robbed of their legal status in America. We should be hearing from farmworkers who are bearing the brunt of climate change to put food on our tables while corporate influence erodes unions’ rights to ensure fair and safe working conditions. We should hear from Indigenous and Black voters who continue experiencing voter suppression enabled by the stolen Court, and from women, transgender, and non-binary Americans whose bodily autonomy and personal medical decisions face mounting government intrusion and interference. There’s no more time for an academic exercise — real lives are at stake.”

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 at https://www.takebackthecourt.today.