Publications and Resources

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. Click here to see AFJ’s Bolder Advocacy resources for nonprofits and foundations.

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

State of the Judiciary: Judicial Selection At the Beginning of President Obama’s Second Term

As President Obama’s second term begins in earnest, there is room for hope that the Administration and the Senate will finally be able to make some headway in reducing the historic backlog of unfilled judicial vacancies. The President has, over the last year, significantly increased his nomination pace, putting pressure on the Senate to act to confirm his nominees. Moreover, the Senate has recently changed its rules to allow for the swifter consideration of district court nominees, potentially allowing for an easier confirmation process. Read More »

Unfinished Business: Judicial Selection During the Remainder of the Obama Presidency

As President Obama finishes his first term and looks forward to his second, the cumulative effects of Republican senators’ ceaseless obstruction of judicial nominees is evident: the President will complete his fourth year in office with more vacancies and judicial emergencies than when he was inaugurated and with far fewer confirmations than his two predecessors had at the end of their first terms. In short, while the President has enjoyed some major judicial selection victories—most notably his appointments to the Supreme Court—his first term has largely been a missed opportunity to fully staff the lower federal courts. Given the current situation, the President has a significant amount of unfinished business to complete during the remainder of his presidency. Read More »

Progressive Values in the Balance: Previewing the 2012-2013 Supreme Court Term

In recent years, the Supreme Court has decided numerous highly controversial cases, often by 5-4 margins, which have served to roll back the clock on decades of progressive jurisprudence. This term could bring more of the same. The Supreme Court 2012-2013 term is already packed with cases with the potential to restrict corporate accountability and limit everyday Americans’ civil rights and access to justice. Moreover, the Court may also agree to consider challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act, California’s Proposition 8, and the Voting Rights Act. In short, the Court’s decisions this term could have disastrous consequences for the ability of consumers, victims of discrimination, human rights plaintiffs, and others to get a fair day in court. Read More »

2011-12 End of Term Report

The 2011-12 U.S. Supreme Court term will be best remembered for the Court’s landmark ruling on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), in which it upheld the constitutionality of the Act but opened the door to placing future limits on Congress’ ability to regulate interstate commerce and to impose conditions on federal grants to the states. That decision, however, was far from the only ruling of major significance this term. The Court issued a number of important decisions that reflect its continuing bias in favor of corporate interests and against the rights of everyday Americans, demonstrating that Chief Justice John Roberts’ One-Percent Court was once again open for business. Read More »

The State of the Judiciary: Judicial Selection During the Remainder of President Obama's First Term (May 2012)

As President Obama nears the home stretch of his first term, the cumulative effects of Republican senators’ ceaseless obstruction of judicial nominees and election-year politics will likely mean that President Obama will finish his first term with more vacancies and judicial emergencies than when he took office and with far fewer confirmations than his two predecessors had at the end of their first terms. This will be the case even if the Senate confirms several dozen nominees over the remainder of the Congress. Read More »

RECENT PRESS RELEASES

Nan Aron: Democracy is on trial in the Senate

05/20/13

Democracy itself is on trial in the United States Senate. If Republicans persist in preventing yes-or-no votes on President Obama’s executive and judicial nominees, the only recourse will be for the majority to revisit Senate rules reform and put an end once and for all to Republican efforts to subvert the Senate’s constitutional obligation to provide advice and consent.

Grassley deserves "A" for creativity, "F" for content on "pre-emptive filibuster" of D.C. Circuit nominees

05/16/13

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) deserves “an ‘A’ for creativity but an ‘F’ for content” for his scheme to obstruct future nominees to the nation’s second most important court, Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron said Thursday. Aron was referring to Grassley’s plan to eliminate three of the four vacant judgeships on the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a plan he raised again at a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting Thursday.

Alliance for Justice Responds to IRS Controversy

05/15/13

For years, nonprofit advocacy groups have called for the IRS to provide clear guidance around the “facts and circumstances” test because the current standard is so vague. The test, which has been the standard for what constitutes election-related activity, has created a compliance and enforcement nightmare for the advocacy organizations, as well as IRS staff.

AFJ Blasts "Give Them an Inch and They Take a Mile" Republicans on Perez Nomination

05/08/13

The “give them an inch and they take a mile” Senate Republicans, after being given the courtesy of a two-week delay on Tom Perez’s committee vote to serve as Secretary of Labor, today invoked an arcane procedural maneuver to delay that vote for yet another week.

AFJ: Arbitration Fairness Act Would "Reopen the Courthouse Doors to Millions of Americans"

05/08/13

Federal legislation introduced Tuesday to ban the increasingly common practice of forced arbitration “is urgently needed to reopen the courthouse doors to millions of Americans,” according to Alliance for Justice President Nan Aron.