‘Just Majority’ campaign tour starts in Boston, calling for judicial reform

Elected officials and advocacy organization representatives spoke at Copley Square Monday morning on the first stop of the “Just Majority” tour to demand for a re-evaluation of the United States Supreme Court.

The tour, which will have 20 stops across the United States, formulated after the news of Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas not disclosing luxury gifts from donor Harlan Crow. It formed a low sense of confidence of the Supreme Court that the tour wants to change, according to a press release.

“We are building a nationwide movement to ensure there is a majority on the Supreme Court that stands up for equal justice,” Senator Elizabeth Warren said at the press conference. “I don’t want to mess with the Supreme Court, but the Supreme Court is messing with our democracy.”

Warren — along with Senator Edward Markey, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley and four representatives from organizations across Massachusetts — stood in front of a custom campaign bus to propose the implementation of an ethics code and to expand the number of seats in the Court.

Markey introduced the Judiciary Act of 2021 in April 2021 to increase the number of justices in the U.S. Supreme Court from nine to 13. He said he believes expanding the Court would counteract the current justices who hold traditional conservative beliefs.

“We don’t have the luxury of wondering if the court will issue radical partisan rulings that shift the foundations of freedom under our feet,” Markey said. “It’s a matter of when and who will be the target of those decisions because the extremist right wing will not stop, neither will we. We are going to fight.”

Pressley said it is a “dark day in American history” in the aftermath of decisions like the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

“The Court is meant to ensure equal justice under the law, but in its current configuration, the highest court repeatedly overturns the will of the majority of the people, and they behave as if the rules don’t apply to them,” Pressley said.

Among the representatives present were former member of the President’s Commission Caroline Fredrickson, March For Our Lives board member David Hogg, Executive Director of GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders Janson Wu and reproductive rights advocate Alencia Johnson.

Hogg said there is a “judicial dictatorship” because the Court has gone against the majority of the people beyond reasonable levels. He cited the case of New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, making New York residents present a special need to carry a firearm outside the home, which the Court deemed as violating the Second Amendment.

“I’ve been around guns my entire life,” Hogg said in an interview. “The vast majority of gun owners that I know support things like universal background checks, because they know that if you have to go through a slightly longer process … even if that prevents one school shooting, that’s worth it.”

Johnson, who previously worked for Planned Parenthood, talked about her late grandmother in the press conference and said she had more rights when she passed than Johnson does currently.

“I have her in my ear every single day, reminding me that this wasn’t supposed to be like this,” Johnson said in an interview. “She fought so I didn’t have to do all this and wanted to make sure that I am leaving the world even better than she had left it and doing this in the spirit of her.”

Some speakers said the votes of the younger generation are what will enact the legislation that the tour seeks to advocate for.

“The judiciary shouldn’t be able to do whatever they want to do, including decide how they personally believe we should live our lives versus what should be done for the will of the people,” Johnson said.