PFAW Calls for Next Debate to Address Courts Issue

People For the American Way, an organization of 1.5 million members nationwide, today called upon the moderators and producers of the next Democratic presidential primary debate to raise the issue of federal courts at the event on October 15. PFAW President Michael Keegan made the request in a letter to moderators.

"This debate provides a critical opportunity to ask the candidates what they would do to repair the damage President Trump and his fellow Republicans have done to the courts--especially the Supreme Court," Keegan states in the letter. The letter goes on to note that Democratic voters want fair-minded constitutionalists on the bench, rather than judges who will put the interests of the wealthy and powerful first. "Our nation needs judges and justices who understand the impact of the law on all people, not just people who are privileged. Our democracy depends on having judges who value equality and justice for all," the letter states.

The request for next week's debate to address the courts comes as PFAW is launching its #VoteTheCourts2020 campaign to highlight the importance of federal courts and judges as an electoral issue in 2020. Despite the critical importance of the courts in upholding our rights and freedoms, and the responsibility of the next president to fill numerous seats on the federal bench, the topic has not been raised in a meaningful way in any of the Democratic debates thus far. Democratic candidates can win support by articulating a vision for the courts that includes rebalancing the bench after four years of the Trump-McConnell commitment to packing it with conservative ideologues, and by reassuring voters of a future in which courts respect the rights of all.

Read the full letter here: https://www.pfaw.org/blog-posts/letter-to-the-moderators-the-october-should-address-the-courts-issue/