Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund Joins Planned Parenthood Action Fund in Calling for Supreme Court Reform

NEW YORK - Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund and Planned Parenthood Action Fund today announced their support for the Supreme Court Tenure Establishment and Retirement Modernization Act of 2023 (TERM Act), which would create 18-year term limits for current and future Supreme Court justices.

"This Supreme Court is deeply out of step with the American people on both reproductive rights and gun safety, which is why Everytown is joining Planned Parenthood Action Fund in supporting the TERM Act," said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. "One of America's greatest strengths is our dynamism, which we've seen clearly in the growing public support for gun safety - and which is being stymied by a Supreme Court where lifetime appointments promote stagnation and stonewalling."

"Our courts are a critical part of our democracy, but they do not have the trust of the American public. Federal courts have become a vehicle for advancing an unpopular agenda by anti-democratic forces to roll back abortion rights, voting rights, LGBTQ+ rights, gun safety, and beyond," said Alexis McGill Johnson, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund. "The TERM Act would help reverse this dangerous course and move us towards a future where courts truly protect our freedoms and advance justice. Planned Parenthood Action Fund is proud to support it."

"A single justice remaining on the Supreme Court for decades can shape federal law for generations. Right now, the Roberts Court is advancing a far-right agenda that undermines our freedoms, including the freedom to live free of gun violence and the freedom to make choices about our own health and bodies," said Christina Harvey, Executive Director at Stand Up America. "Everytown and Planned Parenthood Action Fund have shown tremendous leadership in standing up for the rights and safety of all Americans. Passing 18-year term limits for Supreme Court justices is a crucial part of that fight. We look forward to fighting alongside these champions to advance this vital legislation and restore balance and fairness to our highest court."

These calls for reform come in the months after leading gun violence prevention organizations decried the Supreme Court's decision in Garland v. Cargill, which struck down a rule issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to prohibit the production, sale, and possession of bump stocks, devices that convert semi-automatic firearms into machine guns. As a result, the deadly bump stocks used in our nation's deadliest mass shooting are once again legal in a majority of states across the country.

In a separate but life-saving decision in United States v. Rahimi, the Supreme Court recently reversed an extreme and deadly decision from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that struck down the longstanding federal law that prohibits domestic abusers subject to protective orders from possessing guns. But the Fifth Circuit's radical and dangerous ruling came in the wake of a misguided decision from the Supreme Court in Bruen which unleashed chaos in the courts, setting the stage for challenges to even the most foundational gun safety laws, and leading courts across the country to issue wildly divergent decisions on multiple core issues.

In May 2023, Planned Parenthood Federation of America announced its support of key federal court reform measures - including term limits for justices. In furtherance of these efforts, Planned Parenthood Action Fund continues to support efforts to rebalance the courts to restore a fair judiciary that will protect constitutional and civil rights for generations, noting that democracy and reproductive rights are intertwined.