Lawmakers Kick Off Nationwide Campaign for Court Expansion, Binding Code of Ethics

Video (Facebook)

BOSTON – Today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) joined Senator Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and advocates to kick off a 20-stop, nationwide bus tour to highlight ethical lapses and partisan rulings by the Supreme Court and to make the case for major judicial reform, including court expansion and a binding code of ethics for Supreme Court justices.

“Through its partisan decisions and repeated ethics violations, this far-right, extremist, and unaccountable Supreme Court is actively undermining our democracy and faces a crisis of legitimacy,” said Rep. Pressley. “It’s time for Congress to use its constitutional authority to expand the Court and pass a binding code of ethics for Supreme Court justices—real reforms that would restore the Court’s integrity and bring balance to the bench. From voting rights to housing rights, to reproductive justice, this Court has demonstrated time and again the contempt it has for the people, and enough is enough. We deserve a Supreme Court that is on the side of the people and one that lives up to its promise of equal justice under law, and we must act. The court’s legitimacy—and our very democracy—depend on it.”

The ‘Just Majority’ campaign – whose slogan is ‘Democracy demands a fair and ethical Court’ – will launch as new scandals swirl around Justice Clarence Thomas and confidence in the Supreme Court sinks to historic lows.

Pressley, Warren and Markey were joined by former Biden Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States Commissioner Caroline Fredrickson, March For Our Lives Board Secretary David Hogg, GLAD Executive Director Janson Wu, and reproductive rights advocate and former Planned Parenthood official Alencia Johnson.

The tour is sponsored by a set of leading national reproductive rights, gun violence prevention, civil rights, racial justice, and court reform organizations. It comes amid growing concern about unethical conduct and partisan rulings by Supreme Court justices, including decisions rolling back abortion rights and limiting gun violence prevention laws.

Full video from the press conference is available here.

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