Democratic-leaning groups announced Monday they were launching a seven-figure campaign to draw voters’ attention to the importance of the Supreme Court in the presidential election, with a particular focus on the court’s role on issues such as abortion, gun safety and voting rights.
The group Stand Up America launched a $1 million campaign on the second anniversary of the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, which overturned abortion rights and rocked the nation’s politics in its aftermath.
Republicans have long made the courts, and particularly the Supreme Court, a key issue in federal elections, and a Supreme Court vacancy was a key factor in Donald J. Trump’s victory in the 2016 election. According to exit polls, 56 percent of voters who said the Supreme Court was the “most important factor” in deciding the election voted for Trump.
Democrats are looking to harness a similar energy this year. There are currently no vacancies on the Supreme Court, but the president could make appointments during the next administration.
The effort includes launching a website and a targeted digital ad campaign in battleground states with the help of actress Barbra Streisand, TV host Andy Cohen, social media heavyweights, doctors, lawyers, voters and politicians.
The goal, the group said, is to raise awareness of the election’s impact on the Supreme Court, which it said will see four of the nine justices in their 70s by 2025, giving the next president an opportunity to further shape a court that has become significantly more conservative since 2016.
“You already know our fundamental freedoms are at stake this November. But did you know the stakes are even greater when it comes to the Supreme Court,” Cohen asks in one of his Stand Up America ads. “We need to vote this fall to stop Trump from selecting more MAGA judges who will threaten our fundamental freedoms for decades to come.”
The Stand Up America movement comes as President Biden has become increasingly vocal about the Supreme Court’s role in recent campaign rallies. At a fundraiser in Los Angeles this month, Biden said the “next president will likely have two new nominees to the Supreme Court,” and said Trump had appointed justices who targeted the rights of Americans.
“I think that’s one of the scariest parts,” Biden said during the event.
Trump has been less direct in his comments about the Supreme Court, and his comments about the judiciary have mostly been linked to his own criminal trial, but as he did at a rally in Wildwood, New Jersey, in May, he bragged about nominating the three justices who played a crucial role in overturning Roe v. Wade and recounted the fight he faced to win their confirmation.
“I stood up to vile attacks from the far left in confirming three great Supreme Court justices,” Trump said in a February speech to the National Rifle Association. “They are great justices.”
According to an internal poll conducted by Stand Up America, roughly 75% of voters say who presidential candidates nominate to the Supreme Court will play a key role in the November election.
The group also plans to launch a vote-building campaign with a slew of digital ads and videos from celebrities asking voters to sign a pledge to become “Supreme Court voters.”
“I don’t think there’s enough focus on abortion, marriage equality, gun safety, voting rights, the climate crisis, any number of issues you can think of,” said Christina Harvey, executive director of Stand Up America. She added, “It’s a pretty scary place right now. I have a 12-year-old daughter who goes to school every day, and last week’s decision to repeal the bump stock ban was pretty scary, to be honest.”
