Press Room

We serve as a resource for both traditional and new media and produce groundbreaking research on a wide variety of topics related to our mission of advancing justice and democracy for all Americans. Download our most recent reports, statements, and press releases below.

For more information, contact Kevin Fry, Director of Communication, at Kevin@afj.org or (202) 464-7367.

Hostile Environment: How Activist Judges Threaten Our Air, Water, and Land

Our nation’s environmental protections constitute one of this country’s most significant accomplishments of the second half of the twentieth century. Through years of effort, visionary leaders and environmentalists have successfully translated public support for protecting natural resources—our air, water, and land—into effective and far-reaching legislation. Enjoying widespread popular support and bipartisan endorsement in Congress, these statutes ave been strengthened in both Republican and Democratic administrations, and they have survived repeated, industry-funded rollback attempts. Read More »

The State of the Judiciary: Judicial Nominations During the First Three Years of the Obama Presidency

After three years of the Obama presidency, Republican senators‘ relentless, unprecedented obstruction of judicial nominees has created the almost unimaginable possibility that by the end of the president‘s first term, the overburdened federal courts may have more vacancies than when his presidency began. Republicans‘ goal has been clear from the start: to keep as many seats as possible vacant for a future Republican president to fill. Indeed, this is the strategy that they employed at the end of the Clinton Administration, when they kept 67 seats vacant. Read More »

2010-11 Overreach Report: How the Corporate Court Bends the Law to Favor the 1%

It has been well documented that the “Corporate Court” consistently pursues a political agenda that favors powerful corporate interests and the wealthy at the expense of everyday Americans. What is less well known is that in order to reach these pro-corporate outcomes, certain justices have proven strikingly willing to engage in judicial activism by overreaching and twisting the law. The Supreme Court‟s pro-corporate shift is the result of a decades-long campaign by special interest groups to elevate corporate profits and private wealth over individual rights and personal freedoms. Since John Roberts became Chief Justice in 2005, the Supreme Court has demonstrated a readiness to do whatever it takes to interpret the law in a way that protects powerful interests. Read More »

RECENT PRESS RELEASES

AFJ Condemns Decision by Chief Justice Roberts to Refuse to Adopt Code of Conduct

02/22/12

Yesterday, Chief Justice John Roberts told Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy and the American people that the Supreme Court of the United States, apparently alone among all institutions of American government, doesn’t need formally binding ethics rules and has no intention of adopting any. In a terse statement the Chief Justice flatly rejected a recommendation by Chairman Leahy and Senators Durbin, Whitehouse, Franken, and Blumenthal that the Court voluntarily, explicitly, and formally adopt the same Code of Conduct that governs every other federal judge.

AFJ Praises Senators for Calling for Supreme Court to Adopt Ethics Code

02/15/12

Alliance for Justice is extremely gratified that five members of the Senate Judiciary Committee have written to Chief Justice John Roberts to ask the Supreme Court to formally adopt the same Code of Conduct that applies to all other federal judges. This request echoes a similar one made in January by 11 national organizations, including Alliance for Justice, and is part of a growing groundswell of demands for reform of the Court’s approach to ethics, particularly in the wake of unresolved concerns about the behavior of some justices that seems to violate core principles embodied in the Code, including bans on political activity and prohibitions on active participation in fundraising.

AFJ Condemns Political Games Further Delaying the Confirmation of Judge Adalberto Jose Jordan to the 11th Circuit

02/14/12

After months of interminable, senseless delays by Republican senators, the nomination of Judge Adalberto José Jordán to a seat on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals is now being forced to run a final gauntlet of obstruction and political posturing. The nomination of this uncontroversial, widely respected nominee with bipartisan support was subjected to a pointless filibuster that was broken last night in an overwhelming vote of 89-5. But rather than let the nomination proceed immediately to a final vote, a single Republican senator has invoked a rule that has forced the entire business of the Senate to come to a grinding halt for 30 hours until a vote on Judge Jordán must be held.

AFJ Releases Data on the Judicial Nominations Process During the First Three Years of the Obama Administration

01/26/12

In the wake of President Barack Obama’s demand in the State of the Union address “that all judicial and public service nominations receive a simple up or down vote within 90 days,” Alliance for Justice today issued The State of the Judiciary: Judicial Nominations During the First Three Years of the Obama Presidency, a benchmark report detailing the reasons behind the current staffing crisis in the federal court system.

President Obama's State of the Union Address Highlights the Sorry State of the Judicial Nominations Process

01/24/12

With the nation’s federal courts in crisis, and with one in nine judgeships vacant, we applaud President Obama for using tonight’s State of the Union address to highlight the need for urgent Senate action on his judicial nominations. Relentless, unprecedented obstruction by Republicans threatens to create the almost unimaginable possibility that by the end of the President’s first term the overburdened federal courts may have more vacancies than when his presidency began. We believe the place for the Senate to start is with immediate votes for the 18 nominees currently awaiting final action, but then to work with the President to restore the federal court system to full strength by the end of this year. We urge the Senate to heed the President’s call for immediate action so that the state of the union can once again be characterized by an effective and fully staffed system of justice for all Americans.