REV. SHARPTON APPLAUDS BIDEN SCOTUS REFORM PROPOSALS AS PART OF HISTORIC TRIP TO HONOR LEGACY OF CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

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Jul 29, 2024

Notes President’s Commitment to Fulfill Promises to Expand Rights, Protect Democracy

New York, NY (July 29, 2024) – Rev. Al Sharpton, Founder and President of National Action Network (NAN), today saluted President Biden’s proposal to reform and expand the Supreme Court after the conservative-leaning body has systematically stripped hard-won civil rights in recent years. The proposals come as several justices, including Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, come under ethics scrutiny for myriad reasons.

Rev. Sharpton joined President Biden on Air Force One to travel to the Lyndon B. Johnson Library in Texas, where the commander in chief announced the sweeping changes. The event coincided with the 60^th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, protections under which have come under attack as part of a broad effort to end diversity programs in the United States. The historic trip will also include a visit to Houston, where President Biden and Rev. Sharpton will attend the memorial service for Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, who passed earlier this month.

“The Supreme Court has sought to kill the victories of the Civil Rights Movement through a thousand legal cuts in recent years. We have seen them water down voting rights, take away a woman’s ability to dictate her own health, and gut affirmative action – effectively declaring open season on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Perhaps somehow the worst blow came earlier this summer when they gave Donald Trump a get-out-of-jail-free card for his crusade to upend our democracy. President Biden’s proposed reforms would restore accountability to one of the most sacred bodies in the Supreme Court. Ensuring no one is above the law, imposing term limits for justices, and raising the ethics bar will restore this once respectable bench.

The significance of this historic trip is not lost on any of us. I was honored to fly to the LBJ Library with President Biden to stand with him, my fellow civil rights leaders, and members of the Johnson Family. This was not merely a celebration of the Civil Rights Act but a re-activation to ensure those promises of 60 years ago are kept. President Biden showed a commitment to continue the work and deliver for communities that have been shoved in the margins for too long. While others would sit back after deciding not to run for re-election, he has shown a drive to hand this nation over better than he found it.”