AFJ Press Releases | Alliance for Justice

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 press releases, media advisories, and statements below.

For more information, contact Richard Wexler, Media Relations Manager, at richard.wexler@afj.org or (202) 464-7371.

Senate Schedules Small Step Toward Ending Judicial Nominations Crisis but Leaves Much Work Undone

09/27/11

When this session of Congress began, not only had the relentless Republican obstruction of President Barack Obama’s nominees to the federal judiciary reached unprecedented levels, but the courts themselves faced a debilitating number of empty judgeships that threatened the soundness of the justice system itself. In January, there were 114 existing or expected vacancies, or one in nine seats. Astonishingly, as of today, there are 115, meaning the Senate and the courts have actually lost ground since January.

AFJ and Common Cause Ask Judicial Conference to Investigate Potential Violations of Ethics in Government Act by Justice Clarence Thomas

09/13/11

Alliance for Justice and Common Cause asked the Judicial Conference of the United States today to determine whether apparent violations of the Ethics in Government Act by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas should be referred to the Justice Department for possible enforcement.

Alliance for Justice Releases Authoritative Guide to Laws and Regulations for Online Advocacy

09/13/11

Washington, D.C., September 13, 2011– Alliance for Justice today released an important new resource designed to help the nonprofit community better understand the legal landscape of advocacy in the modern online world. Influencing Public Policy in the Digital Age: The Law of Online Lobbying and Election-related Activity is available as a free download, and is designed to translate laws and regulations into approachable and applicable guidance for nonprofits hoping to engage in effective online communication and advocacy.

Alliance for Justice Data Highlights Effects on Gender, Racial, Professional, and Party Diversity of President Obama's Circuit Court Nominees

09/09/11

President Obama’s appointees to the federal circuit courts of appeals have been the most diverse in American history. Fifty percent of his nominees have been people of color and 40 percent have been female. Notably, 90 percent of the judges the Obama nominees are replacing are white and 80 percent are male—a harbinger of significant changes coming to the federal judiciary. Although only 20 of the President’s 32 nominees to the circuit courts have been confirmed at this stage in his presidency due to the historically slow pace of Senate action, his track record holds the promise of a federal court system that more closely reflects the diverse nature of the American people. With 10 nominees pending in the Senate for the 17 circuit court seats currently vacant, the president has an opportunity to make significant additional strides in reshaping the appellate bench.

The Ability of the American People to Seek Justice Threatened by Dysfunctional Senate Process for Confirming Judicial Nominees

09/07/11

lliance for Justice President Nan Aron issued the following statement as the United States Senate returned from its summer recess facing a federal judiciary in crisis, with 114 current or future vacancies afflicting the court system, and with evidence of a return to the unprecedented Republican stalling tactics that plagued the first two years of the Obama administration: "After almost three years of delay and dysfunction in the Senate’s judicial confirmation process, one out of seven federal judgeships remains vacant. Some people have said that isn’t really a crisis. We disagree. Partisan games have real consequences."

Alliance for Justice Urges Full Scale Push to Confirm Judicial Nominations when Congress Returns in September

08/05/11

the United States Senate left town this week for its August recess, it left behind the unfinished business of fully staffing the federal courts. Twenty nominees to federal district and circuit courts of appeal were left stranded on the Senate floor, unable to get a final confirmation vote as Republicans continued their tactics of endless delay and unwavering obstruction. Even including the four nominees approved on Tuesday, Republican leadership has allowed votes on only 10 nominees to lifetime seats in the last 12 weeks.

AFJ Disappointed that 20 Judicial Nominations Are Left Behind as Senate Goes on Summer Vacation

08/03/11

After dealing with the federal budget deficit, the United States Senate has now adjourned for the summer, apparently willing to leave the federal judge deficit largely unaddressed. Left behind in the scramble to get out of town were 20 judicial nominees awaiting final votes, all but one of whom were approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously or with only token opposition. Efforts to have votes before the recess on these noncontroversial nominees were largely stymied by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and the unyielding Republican practice of intransigent obstruction.

Alliance for Justice Hails Senate Vote Approving J. Paul Oetken as First Openly Gay Man to Be Confirmed for Federal Judgeship

07/19/11

Today marked an historic moment for the federal judiciary as, for the first time, an openly gay man was confirmed as a federal district court judge. The nomination and confirmation of J. Paul Oetken removes one of the final barriers to full and active participation of LGBT individuals in public life. Although gay men and lesbians have long served as judges, the barrier of silence and secrecy has now fallen, and highly qualified LGBT candidates for federal judgeships need no longer fear the nomination process or hide the truth of their lives.

Alliance for Justice Calls on the Senate to End the Federal Judge Deficit and Pick Up the Pace on Nominations Before More Damage Is Done

07/13/11

While Congress is consumed with a fight over the federal budget deficit, the federal judge deficit continues to fester. Now, Republicans have brought the already sluggish judicial confirmation process to a complete halt, causing the federal courts system to pay the price for partisan warfare over the budget.

Alliance for Justice Finds End of Supreme Court Term Shows the "Corporate Court" Is Still Open for Business

06/28/11

Washington, D.C., June 27, 2011—“It has been another good year for corporations at the U.S. Supreme Court and another bad one for everyday Americans seeking fairness and justice in the American legal system,” according Nan Aron, president of Alliance for Justice, commenting on the end of the 2010-11 U.S. Supreme Court term.

Alliance for Justice Condemns Corporate Majority on the Supreme Court for Devising New Hurdles to Justice for Women in Wal-Mart Case

06/20/11

Washington, D.C., June 20, 2011—Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron issued the following statement on today’s decision by the United States Supreme Court in Wal-Mart v. Dukes: "The decision today by a narrow majority of the United States Supreme Court to prevent the female employees of Wal-Mart Stores from banding together to form a class action to fight gender discrimination is just the latest example of the conservative majority’s unrelenting effort to prevent everyday Americans from using the courts to find justice and battle corporate abuses."

Thomas Revelations Show Need for Supreme Court Ethics Reform

06/20/11

Washington, D.C., June 18, 2011– Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron issued the following statement in the wake of revelations in a New York Times story, "Friendship of Justice and Magnate Puts Focus on Ethics," by Mike McIntyre, concerning the possible lapses in ethical behavior by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas:

Alliance for Justice Report Pulls Back the Curtain on Koch Brothers' Support for Corporate Polluters

06/17/11

Alliance for Justice today released a report looking at how money donated by the Koch brothers -- "the billionaires behind the curtain" -- indirectly supports the polluter defendants in one of the Supreme Court's biggest cases of the 2010-11 term, American Electric Power v. Connecticut. At stake in the case is the ability of states and private parties to sue the five largest U.S. emitters of carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas, to cap and reduce their global warming emissions.

How Did the NFL's Labor Dispute End Up Before the Most Republican Court in the Country?

06/03/11

As a service to those writing about the upcoming arguments in the case of Brady v. NFL, being heard in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday, June 3, below is a background report that answers the question of how this case, brought by the players’ union, ended up in the circuit with the highest percentage of Republican, management-friendly judges in the country.

Alliance for Justice Research on President Obama's Judicial Nominations Finds Last Year's Republican Obstruction and This Year's Sluggish Pace of Confirmations Leave Legacy Still in the Balance

06/01/11

– A little over midway through President Barack Obama’s first term, an Alliance for Justice analysis of his nominations to the federal judiciary finds that the pattern of Republican obstruction that plagued his first two years has partially abated, but that the large number of vacancies carried over from the last Congress has left the federal courts in crisis and amplifies the need for an accelerated schedule of presidential nominations and congressional confirmations.

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