‘She Will Rise’ Campaign Ramps Up To Urge Selection of First Black Woman to U.S. Supreme Court
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 16, 2020
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‘She Will Rise’ Campaign Ramps Up To Urge Selection of First Black Woman to U.S. Supreme Court
Pulitzer Prize Winner Nikole Hannah-Jones to Headline Kickoff Event on Sept. 21
Demand Justice Issues Updated Supreme Court Shortlist with Total of 17 Black Women
WASHINGTON, DC— On Wednesday, the ‘She Will Rise’ campaign announced the initial members of ‘The Collective,’ a group of leaders from across media, entertainment, and advocacy who will serve as ambassadors and advisors for the campaign to elevate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court. The campaign will host a launch event featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones and author and activist Donna Hylton on September 21st.
Demand Justice also released an updated Supreme Court shortlist that includes 17 Black women.
She Will Rise is a Demand Justice initiative that advocates for the first Black woman justice on the Supreme Court. The project is led by ‘The Cohort’ of April Reign, Brandi Colander, Kim Tignor, Sabriya I. Williams, and Tamara Brummer.
Members of The Collective will amplify the need for a Black woman on the Supreme Court and participate in She Will Rise events. The individual members of The Collective represent a wide range of industries and spaces, illustrating broad-based support for the effort to elevate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court. The group will grow over the course of the campaign. Members of The Collective are listed below:
- Dara Baldwin, director of national policy for the Center for Disability Rights
- Tiffany Boone, actress
- Myesha Braden, director of special justice initiatives at Alliance for Justice
- Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of The Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Uaw
- Glory Edim, author and founder of Well-Read Black Girl
- Jamila Frone, vice president of litigation practice at Earth Justice
- Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of National Women’s Law Center
- Minda Hart, best-selling author and CEO of The Memo LLC
- Donna Hylton, activist and author
- Morgan Jenkins, author and Senior Editor at ZORA
- Alencia Johnson, the Chief Impact Officer and Founder of 1063 West Broad and former national director of public engagement for Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign
- Audra McDonald, actress and Tony Award winner
- Brittany Packnett, NBC and MSNBC contributor, former member of President Obama’s 21st Century Policing Task Force and the Ferguson Commission, author
- Gia Peppers, entertainment journalist and on air talent
- Nikole Hannah-Jones, New York Times Magazine reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner
- Stephanie Mash Sykes, Executive Director for the African American Mayors Association
- Carine Williams, Chief Program Strategy Officer at The Innocence Project
She Will Rise will host a launch event with Hannah-Jones and Hylton on September 21st. More information about the campaign is available here. The campaign is supported by Demand Justice, the Institute of Intellectual Property & Social Justice (IIPSJ), The Raben Group, and ReignStorm Ventures.
As She Will Rise ramps up its efforts to elevate a Black woman to the nation’s high court, Demand Justice has expanded its Supreme Court shortlist with new names to showcase the wealth of talent and experience available to a president committed to nominating the first Black woman Supreme Court justice. The updated list is below:
- Michelle Alexander, Visiting Professor of Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary
- Cheri Beasley, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina
- Elise Boddie, Professor of Law at Rutgers Law School
- Kristen Clarke, President and Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
- Anita Earls, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina
- Fatima Goss Graves, President and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center
- Sherrilyn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
- Ketanji Brown Jackson, Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
- Leondra Kruger, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California
- Catherine Lhamon, Chair, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
- Melissa Murray, Professor of Law at New York University School of Law
- Adrienne Nelson, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Oregon
- Janai Nelson, Associate Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
- L. Song Richardson, Dean and Chancellor’s Professor of Law of the University of California, Irvine School of Law
- Christina Swarns, Executive Director of the Innocence Project
- G. Helen Whitener, Associate Justice of the Washington Supreme Court
- Wilhelmina Wright, Judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota
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