A year after the Supreme Court upended the legal status quo on gun regulation with its landmark Bruen decision, more than a dozen gun violence prevention groups and advocates signed on to an effort to reform the high court. The nationwide “Just Majority” campaign will push for Congress to expand the court, impose term limits, and establish a binding code of ethics for justices. The campaign will tour the U.S., ending in Washington, D.C., in June. Stops in New York, Chicago, and Newtown, Ct., will focus specifically on the court’s impact on gun laws and gun violence, reports The Trace. There are more than 30 progressive groups involved, ranging in specialties from climate change and voting access to reproductive and women’s rights. For the five gun reform groups who’ve signed on, the effort represents somewhat of a departure from the typical playbook, which has frequently centered on lobbying for specific policies and legislation on the state and federal levels.
“It’s time for the majority of Americans who support common sense gun laws to pay as much attention to the Supreme Court as the gun lobby has, and to restore balance through reforms including Supreme Court expansion,” said Fred Guttenberg, a founder of Orange Ribbons for Jaime, named for his daughter, who was a victim of the 2018 Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Fla. Among the coalition are the gun reform groups March for Our Lives, Guns Down America, Teachers Unify to End Gun Violence, This Is Our Lane, and the Newtown Action Alliance. Notably, larger, more establishment gun reform groups like Giffords, Everytown, and Brady are not participants. A dozen high-profile advocates, many of whom have not been involved with Supreme Court reform efforts before, have joined in their individual capacities, including Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action, and David Hogg, a Parkland survivor and co-founder of March for Our Lives. Calls for expanding the Supreme Court from its nine seats have grown since the decisions in Bruen, and a day later in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the constitutional right to abortion. The number of seats on the court could be changed by Congress, though such a move is unlikely with Republicans in control of the U.S. House, and not all Democrats are in favor.