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Abbreviation | AFJ |
---|---|
Formation | August 7, 1974 [1] |
Founder | Nan Aron [2] |
Type | 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization |
52-1009973 [3] | |
Purpose | Legal 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]
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]
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]
AFJ reports a membership of over 120 organizations. On its website, as of January 7, 2021, AFJ lists the following member groups: [14]
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.
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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.
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Nan Aron, the president of the liberal Alliance for Justice, supports filibustering Judge Gorsuch.
Put more succinctly, Nan Aron of the liberal Alliance for Justice said, 'In spite of what the White House would like to have us believe, he's a dangerous choice.'
Nan Aron, president of the liberal Alliance for Justice, said the Supreme Court should 'not become a casualty of the politics of destruction, denial and obstruction.'
But Nan Aron of the liberal Alliance for Justice said that Roberts's involvement 'doesn't say anything about his judicial philosophy.'
'He would face stiff opposition from liberal groups,' said Nan Aron, president of the liberal legal group Alliance for Justice.