Head of progressive group Demand Justice to step down in the fall

Brian Fallon is stepping down as executive director of Demand Justice, he announced Thursday, leaving his post atop the influential progressive group focused on court reform.

Fallon, in a letter first reported by Politico, wrote to the group’s board of directors to share his plans to step down in the fall.

“Our mission from the start has been to alert progressives to the profound threat posed by the far right’s capture of our courts, and to begin mounting a counteroffensive,” Fallon wrote. “Today, the signs of a rising progressive legal movement are abundant.”

Fallon pointed to an increased focus on the politicization of the Supreme Court, President Biden’s focus on judicial selections and a rise in interest among Democratic voters in the courts as a political issue.

He also noted Demand Justice’s influence has grown from its founding in 2016. The group hosted a presidential forum in 2020 exclusively devoted to the issue of the Supreme Court in which Democratic candidates for the party’s nomination were pressed on their views.

Demand Justice has also been at the forefront of the push for expansion of the Supreme Court, something many progressive lawmakers have gotten behind but that Biden and the White House have yet to endorse.

“On these and so many other fronts, I know Demand Justice will continue to punch above its weight in the years ahead,” Fallon wrote.

Fallon will remain as a member of the board of directors and as president of the Demand Justice PAC, the political action committee aligned with Demand Justice. He was an aide to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and worked on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

The Supreme Court has gained increasing attention in the progressive movement in recent years as the bench has tilted to the right with three appointments by former President Trump. The court has overturned Roe v. Wade, gutted affirmative action policies in college admissions and rolled back environmental regulations.

Roughly 6 in 10 likely voters say the Supreme Court faces a legitimacy crisis, according to recent polling from progressive firm Data for Progress.