Building an Equal Justice Judiciary and Multiracial Democracy Is Essential Following This Supreme Court Term

During the most recent term, the U.S. Supreme Court’s extremist majority issued decisions that will further dismantle the apparatus of our multiracial democracy and fundamentally disrupt how our federal government functions. Sadly, many of the cases this term were brought by anti-civil rights forces who are trying to prevent us from reaching the full promise of our nation’s ideals.

• In Alexander v. SC State Conference of the NAACP, the Court’s extremist majority made it more difficult to challenge unconstitutional racial gerrymandering — dealing a tremendous blow to the ability of communities of color to elect candidates of their choice.
• In Grants Pass v. Johnson, the Court’s extremist majority allowed for the criminalization of homelessness, penalizing people for sleeping in public when they have nowhere safe to go and effectively punishing them for the status of being homeless — rather than for their behavior.
• In Idaho v. United States / Moyle v. United States, the Court gave people in Idaho seeking emergency abortion care a temporary reprieve while delaying a decision that endangers the health of pregnant people and leaving the door open for litigation challenging EMTALA’s essential protections to continue. And in FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, while the Court’s majority decided that the party that brought this case did not have standing (which preserves access to mifepristone), we know that this is not the end of cruel attacks on access to abortion care.
• In Loper Bright v. Raimondo / Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce, the Court’s extremist majority placed the interests of the rich and powerful over four decades of settled law and the protection of our civil and human rights — overturning one of the most important principles that has helped public servants implement and enforce our laws to protect us from extremist, anti-civil rights forces.
  • This decision, coupled with Corner Post, Inc. v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System — which ruled that the default six-year statute of limitations under the Administrative Procedures Act does not accrue until the plaintiff is injured by final agency action — creates a potentially destabilizing effect on the implementation and enforcement of laws.
• And in Trump v. United States, the Court’s extremist majority dealt a devastating blow to the concept of equal justice under law and to the very core of our democracy — giving presidents broad immunity from criminal prosecution.

The damage done by the Court’s extremist majority will reverberate for years to come. These cases and decisions that are devastating to our civil and human rights are not coincidences. They are the result of decades-long manufactured and coordinated efforts designed to benefit the wealthy and powerful — not all of us. And it is happening at a time when there are numerous reports of an escalating ethics crisis at our nation’s highest court, as some justices accept lavish gifts from billionaires, fail to disclose these gifts, and refuse to recuse themselves when there is a clear appearance of partiality. Understandably, the public’s confidence in the Supreme Court continues to decline. The time to build an equal justice judiciary and multiracial democracy that work for everyone and serve all people in the United States is now.

We must build an equal justice judiciary that respects and protects the rights of all people.

For our democracy to work for all of us, it must include all of us. It must also include a federal judiciary staffed with judges committed to equal justice — and a Supreme Court staffed with justices whose decisions are informed by facts and law, not wealth and power. It is critically important that the White House and Senate continue to select, nominate, and confirm judicial nominees who are highly qualified, fair-minded, demographically and professionally diverse, and committed to civil and human rights.

Every judicial vacancy that goes unfilled could be filled by a future president who does not believe in equal justice for all. The diverse and highly qualified judges confirmed today and in the past could be the only thing upholding the rule of law and protecting our rights during a future administration and/or Congress that is intent on stripping away our fundamental rights and further upending our democracy. Time is of the essence to fill all judicial vacancies with ethical and fair-minded judges.

And there is more that must be done. The justices on our nation’s highest court should hold themselves to the highest ethical standards, yet we have witnessed time and time again that certain justices have repeatedly failed to meet that foundational duty. That is why the civil rights community continues to call for swift passage of robust ethics reform legislation, including a binding and enforceable Code of Conduct for Supreme Court justices, and other needed transparency measures — in addition to sustained oversight and investigation into reports identifying disturbing patterns of ethics violations. As President Biden and Vice President Harris recognized this week, action is desperately needed to protect our democracy, ensure an ethical judiciary, and restore public confidence in the Court.

We must pass federal voting rights legislation and work toward a fair and accurate 2030 Census to ensure our democracy works for everyone.

The Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder gutted the heart of the Voting Rights Act and unleashed a tsunami of voter suppression laws that continue in ferocity and intensity today. Additional Supreme Court decisions, including Brnovich v. DNC in 2021 and Alexander this year, have further weakened the right to vote. Comprehensive voting rights reform to ensure the freedom to vote for all voters — and to eradicate any and all racial discrimination in voting — must be passed by Congress at the very first opportunity.

As the nation approaches the third presidential election without the full protections of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), and as we prepare to celebrate the landmark law’s 60th anniversary next year, we must preserve and expand upon the promise of the VRA and create a more just and equitable society for all. Congress must pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, the Freedom to Vote Act, and the Native American Voting Rights Act to ensure we have the right to shape our futures.

At the same time, we must work to ensure a fair and accurate 2030 Census so that political power and federal resources are fairly allocated among the states and their communities. Lawmakers must oppose all efforts to weaponize the decennial census, including by asking about citizenship status and excluding noncitizens from the apportionment counts. A fair and accurate census — one in which everyone counts — and the collection of valuable, objective data about the nation’s people, housing, economy, and communities are among the most significant civil rights issues facing the country today.

We must respond to these devastating decisions with the urgency they require.

In response to the cruel and misguided opinions this term — and in other recent terms — from the Court’s extremist majority, urgent action is necessary to protect the civil and human rights of communities across the nation. For example, Congress must work to protect access to abortion and reproductive health care nationwide. The Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in 2022, in addition to ongoing attacks on abortion care, have demonstrated the need for continued progress toward reproductive freedom for all — especially as these attacks cause disproportionate harm to those who already experience barriers to health care access (including communities of color, LGBTQI+ people, people with low incomes, people with disabilities, and other underserved communities).

In the wake of Grants Pass v. Johnson, our leaders must also do more to address the root causes of homelessness, including a shortage of affordable homes, and to ensure proper avenues to support and protect people experiencing homelessness. And following last term’s decision rolling back affirmative action in higher education — and ongoing challenges to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) — there is a real need for action, including from the administration, to promote, protect, and expand programs that lead to and achieve DEIA.

As this Supreme Court term has made clear, we are living in an era of relentless threats to our democracy and our fundamental rights. Still, a majority of people in America believe in a vision of our nation that protects civil rights, embraces differences, and understands that a thriving, multiracial democracy is the only path forward. In the face of these attacks from the extremist few against our civil rights, we continue to work in coalition for the future we all deserve.

Our freedoms, our democracy, and our Constitution do not protect themselves. People of courage who believe in the key American values of equal opportunity and fairness do. And we must.