Alliance for Justice

Last updated
Alliance for Justice
AbbreviationAFJ
FormationAugust 7, 1974;50 years ago (1974-08-07) [1]
Founder Nan Aron [2]
Type 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
52-1009973 [3]
PurposeLegal advocacy
Headquarters Washington, D.C.
Rakim Brooks [2]
Paulette Meyer [2]
Revenue (2018)
$5,618,274 [3]
Expenses (2018)$5,699.201 [3]
Employees (2018)
47 [3]
Volunteers (2018)
22 [3]
Website afj.org

The Alliance for Justice (AFJ) is a progressive judicial advocacy group in the United States. [4] [5] Founded in 1979 by former president Nan Aron, AFJ monitors federal judicial appointments. AFJ represents a coalition of 100 politically liberal groups that have an interest in the federal judiciary. [6] The Alliance for Justice presents a modern liberal viewpoint on legal issues. [7]

Contents

According to the organization, "AFJ works to ensure that the federal judiciary advances core constitutional values, preserves human rights and unfettered access to the courts, and adheres to the even-handed administration of justice for all Americans." [8]

Judicial advocacy

AFJ launched the Judicial Selection Project in 1985 to monitor the federal judicial appointment system. [9] According to AFJ's founder, Nan Aron, the organization wanted to guard against the ideological impact of Ronald Reagan's federal judicial nominees. [10] AFJ objects to judicial nominees who oppose abortion or who promise to exercise judicial restraint. [5] The organization provides background on prospective nominees to the American Bar Association and the Senate Judiciary Committee. [5]

AFJ played a role in the defeat of Ronald Reagan nominee Robert Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1987. [11] In 2001, the organization supported the nomination of Roger Gregory, a Bill Clinton nominee and the first African-American judge in the Fourth Circuit in 2001. [12] In 2013, AFJ supported President Barack Obama's three nominees for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. [13]

Member organizations

AFJ reports a membership of over 120 organizations. On its website, as of January 7, 2021, AFJ lists the following member groups: [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federalist Society</span> American conservative legal organization

The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (FedSoc) is an American conservative and libertarian legal organization that advocates for a textualist and originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., it has chapters at more than 200 law schools and features student, lawyer, and faculty divisions; the lawyers division comprises more than 70,000 practicing attorneys in ninety cities. Through speaking events, lectures, and other activities, it provides a forum for legal experts of opposing conservative views to interact with members of the legal profession, the judiciary, and the legal academy. It is one of the most influential legal organizations in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Bar Association</span> American association of lawyers

The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students; it is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation of model ethical codes related to the legal profession. As of fiscal year 2017, the ABA had 194,000 dues-paying members, constituting approximately 14.4% of American attorneys. In 1979, half of all lawyers in the U.S. were members of the ABA. The organization's national headquarters are in Chicago, Illinois, and it also maintains a significant branch office in Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund</span> Organization in New York, United States

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. is an American civil rights organization and law firm based in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Constitution Society</span> US progressive legal organization

The American Constitution Society (ACS) is a progressive legal organization. ACS was created as a counterweight to, and is modeled after, the Federalist Society, and is often described as its progressive counterpart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leonard Leo</span> American lawyer (born 1965)

Leonard Anthony Leo is an American lawyer and conservative legal activist. He was the longtime vice president of the Federalist Society and is currently, along with Steven Calabresi, the co-chairman of the organization's board of directors.

A cause of action or right of action, in law, is a set of facts sufficient to justify suing to obtain money or property, or to justify the enforcement of a legal right against another party. The term also refers to the legal theory upon which a plaintiff brings suit. The legal document which carries a claim is often called a 'statement of claim' in English law, or a 'complaint' in U.S. federal practice and in many U.S. states. It can be any communication notifying the party to whom it is addressed of an alleged fault which resulted in damages, often expressed in amount of money the receiving party should pay/reimburse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roberts Court</span> Period of the US Supreme Court since 2005

The Roberts Court is the time since 2005 during which the Supreme Court of the United States has been led by John Roberts as Chief Justice. Roberts succeeded William Rehnquist as Chief Justice after Rehnquist's death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Katzmann</span> American judge (1953–2021)

Robert Allen Katzmann was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He served as chief judge from September 1, 2013, to August 31, 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Willett</span> American federal judge (born 1966)

Donny Ray Willett is an American lawyer and jurist serving since 2018 as a U.S. circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He was previously a justice of the Supreme Court of Texas from 2005 to 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neil Gorsuch</span> US Supreme Court justice since 2017 (born 1967)

Neil McGill Gorsuch is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President Donald Trump on January 31, 2017, and has served since April 10, 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brennan Center for Justice</span> Liberal law and public policy institute at New York University School of Law

The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law is a liberal or progressive nonprofit law and public policy institute. The organization is named after Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr. The Brennan Center advocates for public policy positions including raising the minimum wage, opposing voter ID laws, and calling for public funding of elections. The organization opposed the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. FEC, which held that the First Amendment prohibits the government from restricting independent political expenditures by nonprofits.

Elaine R. Jones is an American civil rights attorney and activist. She joined the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) in 1970 and in 1993 became the organization's first female director-counsel and president.

Legal Momentum, founded in 1970, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and the nation's first and longest-serving legal advocacy group for women in the United States. Betty Friedan and Muriel Fox were its co-founders and Muriel Fox is an ongoing leader of the organization. Carol Baldwin Moody became President and CEO in April 2018. The organization, founded as the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, became Legal Momentum in 2004. Legal Momentum is a multi-issue organization dedicated to advancing women’s rights and gender equality, particularly in the areas of equal education opportunities; fairness in the courts; ending all forms of gender-based violence; workplace equality and economic empowerment. The organization employs three main strategies: impact litigation, policy advocacy, and educational initiatives. It is headquartered in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nan Aron</span> American lawyer (born 1948)

Nan Aron is an American lawyer and the founder and president of Alliance for Justice (AFJ), a liberal judicial advocacy group in the United States. Staunchly progressive, Aron has been a noted opponent of conservative judicial nominees in the United States. She repeatedly called for former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama to be more aggressive in nominating progressives to the bench, and during George W. Bush's presidency, urged the Democrat-controlled Senate to consider Bush's nominees closely. She is considered a key player in confirmation hearings for judicial nominees, and, in 2005, was called "the Madame Defarge of liberal court watchers" in the Wall Street Journal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LatinoJustice PRLDEF</span> New York-based civil rights organization

LatinoJustice PRLDEF, long known by its former name the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, is a New York–based national civil rights organization with the goal of changing discriminatory practices via advocacy and litigation. Privately funded, nonprofit and nonpartisan, it is part of the umbrella Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

Public interest law refers to legal practices undertaken to help poor, marginalized, or under-represented people, or to effect change in social policies in the public interest, on 'not for profit' terms, often in the fields of civil rights, civil liberties, religious liberty, human rights, women's rights, consumer rights, environmental protection, and so on.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neil Gorsuch Supreme Court nomination</span> United States Supreme Court nomination

On January 31, 2017, soon after taking office, President Donald Trump, a Republican, nominated Neil Gorsuch for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States to succeed Antonin Scalia, who had died almost one year earlier. Then-president Barack Obama, a Democrat, nominated Merrick Garland to succeed Scalia on March 16, 2016, but the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate did not vote on the nomination. Majority leader Mitch McConnell declared that as the presidential election cycle had already commenced, it made the appointment of the next justice a political issue to be decided by voters. The Senate Judiciary Committee refused to consider the Garland nomination, thus keeping the vacancy open through the end of Obama's presidency on January 20, 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allison Jones Rushing</span> American judge (born 1982)

Allison Blair Jones Rushing is an American attorney and jurist serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit since March 2019.

Carrie Campbell Severino is an American lawyer and conservative political activist. She is the president of the Concord Fund, where she supported the Supreme Court nominations of Amy Coney Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh. She is the coauthor of Justice on Trial: The Kavanaugh Confirmation and the Future of the Supreme Court.

References

  1. "ALLIANCE FOR JUSTICE - Initial File Number: 741885". Government of the District of Columbia]". Retrieved November 21, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 "". Alliance for Justice. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Form 990: Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax". Alliance for Justice. Internal Revenue Service. December 31, 2018.
  4. Boyer, Dave (June 6, 2016). "Elizabeth Warren lambastes Senate Republicans for 'obstruction' of judges". Washington Times. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 Clarity, James; Weaver Jr., Warren (January 18, 1985). "Here Come the Judges". The New York Times . Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  6. Horwitz, Sari; Eilperin, Juliet (November 7, 2014). "Obama to nominate Justice prosecutor Lynch for attorney general". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  7. E.g.,
  8. "About AFJ". Alliance for Justice. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  9. Steigerwalt, Amy (2010). Battle over the Bench: Senators, Interest Groups, and Lower Court Confirmations. University of Virginia Press. p. 11. ISBN   9780813929989.
  10. Scherer, Nancy (2005). Scoring Points: Politicians, Activists, and the Lower Federal Court Appointment Process. Stanford University Press. p. 110. ISBN   9780804749497.
  11. Greenhouse, Linda (December 4, 1987). "Supreme Court Nominations; After Bork, the Liberals' Silence On Judge Kennedy Is Deafening". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  12. Savage, David (July 21, 2001). "Senate Confirms 3 of Bush's Judicial Nominees". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  13. Eilperin, Juliet (May 28, 2013). "Obama to launch push to reshape D.C. Circuit with 3 simultaneous nominations". Washington Post. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  14. "Member Organizations". Alliance For Justice. Retrieved 24 February 2015.