SCOTUS ‘Captured By Right-Wing Extremists’

A coalition of left-wing activist organizations are launching an ad campaign to make the Supreme Court a key issue in the 2024 election, NBC News reported Monday.

The United for Democracy campaign launched Monday, with its first $1 million ad buy slated to air in states with key Senate elections — Pennsylvania, Arizona, Wisconsin, Nevada and Montana, along with Washington, D.C, per NBC. The group’s one-minute ad spot slams the Supreme Court as “captured by right-wing extremists” and calls on voters to “tell Congress to rein in the dangerous Supreme Court.”

“The government should not not be making health care decisions for the people that I serve,” a Catholic priest identified as Father Rick says in the video.

The ad points to the Supreme Court’s June 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, along with its decision to strike down New York state’s concealed carry law in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen and its recent ruling limiting the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate under the Clean Water Act in Sackett v. EPA.

“The Supreme Court makes it harder to keep our families safe,” a mother of a Virginia Tech shooting survivor tells viewers.

Organizations backing the campaign include Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice America, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, the League of Conservation Voters, March For Our Lives and the Alliance For Justice.

Planned Parenthood announced its support for court packing in May, backing Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey’s introduction of a bill to add four seats to the Supreme Court.

The Alliance for Justice has been at the forefront of a campaign calling for Justice Clarence Thomas to resign after reports that he did not disclose expense-paid trips he took with his friend and billionaire Harlan Crow, along with other financial transactions, though legal experts previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation the reports were aimed at influencing public opinion and failed to uncover wrongdoing.

“Today, extreme right-wing justices are exploiting their power, breaking judicial norms and ignoring decades of legal precedent to impose their own radical agenda on our country,” the United for Democracy website states. “These justices aren’t following the law, they are making policy decisions that limit freedom for people across the country, and their power grab shows no signs of slowing.”

Future ads could support specific reforms like a Supreme Court ethics code, recusal laws, stricter financial disclosure requirements or court packing, campaign director Stasha Rhodes told NBC.