October, 29 2020, 12:00am EDT
Demand Justice Launches New TV Ad Campaign to Make Case for Expanding the Supreme Court
Ad comes as calls for Court expansion from elected officials and congressional candidates grow in the wake of Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation.
WASHINGTON
On Wednesday, Demand Justice announced a new TV ad that argues for expanding the size of the Supreme Court to restore balance and legitimacy.
The ad comes in the aftermath of the partisan confirmation vote for Amy Coney Barrett. It argues that the Supreme Court has been "turned into a political football" and features former lawyers for the Reagan and Nixon administrations who have expressed their openness to Court expansion to restore balance and legitimacy to a Court tainted by partisan rule-breaking.
The ad's narrator declares: "Our democracy has been put to the test. Our institutions, shaken to their core. Even the Supreme Court, turned into a political football with partisan rulings and the public losing trust in its independence. Voices on both sides agree: to restore balance and legitimacy, the next Congress must reform the Supreme Court."
The ad is the latest move by Demand Justice to build momentum for a push for Court reform in the next Congress. Immediately after Monday's vote on the Barrett nomination, Demand Justice launched a grassroots petition that calls for four seats to be added to the Court and released a digital explainer video that has racked up close to 700k views. In addition, Demand Justice has announced a national organizing call for Nov. 12 on the issue.
Meanwhile, the Court continues to rule against voting rights in a way that bolsters the need for structural reform. In a 5-3 decision Monday, the Court ruled in favor of the GOP, deciding that ballots in Wisconsin that are postmarked by Election Day but arrive after should be thrown out. Justice Kavanaugh cited Bush v. Gore in his decision justifying the ruling. Justices Kavanaugh, Roberts, and Barrett each served on George W. Bush's legal team in the Florida 2000 recount, working to ensure that only GOP votes were counted, calling into question the Court's impartiality on election-related cases.
The ad can be found here with images below:
Demand Justice is a progressive movement fighting to restore the ideological balance and legitimacy of the federal courts by advocating for court reform and vigorously opposing extreme nominees.
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