United for Democracy Welcomes 10 New Organizations To Coalition, Calling on Congress to Rein in Extreme Supreme Court
As the Supreme Court’s term is underway with the fundamental freedoms of Americans across the country on the line, Blue Future, Court Accountability, Enough of Gun Violence, Get Free, Greenpeace, Media and Democracy Project, Student Borrower Protection Center and Protect Borrowers Action, Supermajority, Term Limit The Court, and True North Research, will join forces with United for Democracy to shine a spotlight on extreme justices’ ongoing assault on our democracy.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — United for Democracy (UFD) — a nationwide campaign to educate Americans about the impact today’s Supreme Court is having on their lives, freedoms, and democracy — is proud to welcome Blue Future, Court Accountability, Enough of Gun Violence, Get Free, Greenpeace, Media and Democracy Project, Student Borrower Protection Center and Protect Borrowers Action, Supermajority, Term Limit The Court, True North Research to the growing Coalition.
As the Court continues to hear oral arguments for cases that will determine the rights and freedoms that Americans depend on, United for Democracy’s new partners will join the Coalition’s chorus of voices calling for congressional action to rein in the broken and captured Supreme Court. Together, the Coalition will continue to build momentum around engaging the public and highlighting how the Court continues to hear more cases geared towards amassing power, tilting the scales further in the favor of the majority’s extreme right-wing politics, and helping the ultra-rich get richer at the expense of working Americans.
Representing tens of millions of Americans, United for Democracy is unprecedented in its size and scope. With the support of Blue Future, Court Accountability, Get Free, Greenpeace, Media and Democracy Project, Enough of Gun Violence, Student Borrower Protection Center and Protect Borrowers Action, Supermajority, Term Limit The Court, True North Research, the 130-member strong campaign will harness growing outrage at extreme justices to mobilize the American people, advocates, experts, and political leaders and demand that Congress rein in the Court.
"With oral arguments underway and a docket of cases that could gut more fundamental freedoms, we know that now, not June, is the time to turn up the pressure on Congress to act. We're grateful to welcome our new partners to help us do just that," said Stasha Rhodes, Campaign Director of United for Democracy. “These incredible organizations are at the forefront of the most critical fights to protect our communities and freedoms — from gun safety to environmental protections, from free press to educational opportunity — and understand that this Supreme Court threatens all of it. With this added strength in numbers and the leadership of these partners at the table, United for Democracy is ramping up its organizing to meet the urgency of the moment."
“On behalf of our network of nationwide youth organizers, Blue Future is eager to join United for Democracy as we continue to fight for a fair and just Supreme Court. Young people are the ones who will face the decisions of this court for years to come and we must continue building a world where all people, especially our young people, can have access to opportunities, freedom, and justice, no matter their race, gender, income, or zip code,” said Morgan Stahr, Co-President of Blue Future.
“Week after week, we learn more about the jaw-dropping corruption of the Supreme Court's Federalist Society majority. Without regard to precedent or principle, these far-right judges are ripping away Americans' freedoms while handing out huge wins to their billionaire benefactors. Rooted in the power of its members, United for Democracy is our movement's best hope for building true popular power to constrain this threat to everything we care about,” said Alex Aronson, Executive Director of Court Accountability.
"Enough of Gun Violence is joining the United for Democracy Coalition to make sure the peoples' voices are heard. Our communities deserve to be heard, loud and proud, and be able to trust that our fundamental freedoms have a protector in the Supreme Court. But, the Supreme Court of the United States has continuously failed us," said Celeste Iroha, Founder and President of Enough of Gun Violence. "Enough of Gun Violence helps to advocate and fight for the voices of impacted communities and we realize that when the Supreme Court is advancing their own political agenda over the will of the people, they are not practicing Equal Justice Under Law; rather they are practicing Unequal Justice Under Law."
“Our generation wants to live in a country where equality, freedom, and justice are real for all, no matter our races, backgrounds, or genders. In 2020, young people turned out to reckon with the lies and laws manufactured by a wealthy few throughout our history to divide, control, and exploit us. This terrifies the modern-day supremacist faction and their handpicked MAGA justices on the Supreme Court - who are now desperately trying to cement their power, take away our freedoms, and rule over us," said Nicole Carty, Executive Director of Get Free. "Our country says it should be equal and free and we know that repairing the damage of supremacy from its foundation is the only way to make it happen. By unleashing our power in our streets, workplaces, and polling booths, our generation will fulfill our mandate to rewrite the rules, repair the harms, and make freedom and equality real for generations to come."
“The fossil fuel industry, its front groups and ideological proxies have waged a decades-long judicial and legal assault on environmental laws and our government’s ability to protect communities and ecosystems. Like a swarm of invasive species, extremists have flooded our regulatory and electoral systems. They have corrupted the ethical norms and intellectual integrity of the Supreme Court and launched a multipronged attack on our democracy,” said Greenpeace Senior Strategist Charlie Cray. “For that reason Greenpeace USA joins our allies and partners in United for Democracy with the aim of making the structural and policy reforms necessary to turn things around before the authoritarian assault on democracy and the rapidly worsening climate crisis devolve into an irreversible existential catastrophe.”
“Over fifty years ago, Justice Byron White wrote for a unanimous Supreme Court, that ‘It is the purpose of the First Amendment to preserve an uninhibited marketplace of ideas in which truth will ultimately prevail, rather than to countenance monopolization of that market.’ The Roberts Court has instead taken radically libertarian interpretations of the First Amendment, using it to empower corporations, hedge funds, religious institutions, huge consolidated media firms, and billionaires as they increasingly shape and dominate our public debate. The Roberts Court's lack of ethics has been exposed by journalists, affirming our Founding Fathers’ mandate that we must have independent media, in part, to act as a check and balance on power. We believe the Court must be reformed as a part of any project to restore a free, independent, pro-democracy press and more diverse media landscape,” said Carolyn Barclift, Co-founder of the Media and Democracy Project.
“The Supreme Court has been captured by wealthy special interests. As we saw in the partisan decision ripping away critical debt relief from tens of millions of borrowers and their families, some justices are putting special interests and politics ahead of the law and the facts. The Student Borrower Protection Center and Protect Borrowers Action are joining the Coalition to advocate for a Court where everyone, not just the rich and powerful, has a fair shot,” said Mike Pierce, Executive Director of Student Borrower Protection Center and Protect Borrowers Action.
“At Supermajority, we know that the Supreme Court has immense power to decide on the issues young women care about most—from the right to abortion access to student loan forgiveness to affirmative action. But too often, the court is out of step with the needs of women in America,” said Taylor Salditch, interim executive director of Supermajority. “We are proud to join the United for Democracy Coalition as we continue the work of building women’s political power to ensure we create a country where everyone can truly thrive.”
“The lack of accountability or true checks on the Supreme Court have left a number of the justices detached, removed, and unconcerned about kicking precedent to the curb and reversing a half-century of law protecting a woman’s right to abortion. Some members of the Court are so secure in the certainty they are untouchable they see no problem taking free trips and sweetheart deals from billionaires with business before the Court. It’s obvious most Americans no longer trust this court with public approval at an all-time low and the perception that the Court is primarily motivated by politics incredibly high,” said Alan Cohn, Executive Director of Term Limit the Court. “What’s needed is a movement to bring about change. Term Limit the Court is thrilled to work with United for Democracy and the great Coalition of organizations dedicated to restoring public trust in the Supreme Court.”
"The U.S. Supreme Court is out of control and out of touch. All six of the Leonard Leo/Federalist Society justices are wreaking havoc on Americans' freedoms by overturning decades of legal precedents in ways that are aligned with Leo and his extremely right wing dark money machine. This includes negating 20th century precedents that set wise boundaries on government power, overturning constitutional protections for reproductive decisions, dismantling key guardrails in our democracy, and destroying the traditional wall separating church and state," said Lisa Graves, the Executive Director of True North Research and former Deputy Assistant Attorney General. “Investigative reporting has also confirmed that a culture of corruption now dominates the Court, and influence peddling through secretly funded amicus briefs (as Senator Whitehouse has documented) is deeply distorting our laws. We must do everything in our power to curb this Court and to restore integrity and fairness to this branch of government."
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United for Democracy is a diverse and growing coalition of 130 grassroots organizations, labor unions, and advocates for reproductive rights, gun violence prevention, the environment, workers’ rights and more, all representing tens of millions of Americans. The nationwide campaign launched to educate Americans about the impact today’s Supreme Court is having on their lives, freedoms, and democracy — and call on Congress to rein in its unchecked powers.