Take Back the Court Action Fund is the lobbying and electoral advocacy arm of Take Back the Court Foundation, a left-of-center advocacy group that aims to add seats to the United States Supreme Court once Democrats gain control of government. Take Back the Court Action Fund was founded in November 2020 by San Francisco State University Professor Aaron Belkin to advocate that Democrats increase the number of Supreme Court justices as a method to dilute the votes of Republican-appointed judges. ^{1 2 3}

Activities

Take Back the Court Action Fund is a left-of-center 501(c)(4) advocacy organization that promotes adding seats to the Supreme Court (known as “court-packing”) under a Democratic presidential administration as a method to address climate change, racial justice, and income inequality. ^{4 5}

Take Back the Court Action Fund contends that most Republican-nominated Supreme Court Justices serving as of 2025 was “stolen” and that the conservative-majority Court permits “racist voter suppression” and “union busting” and is “complicit in the right-wing assault on free and fair elections.” The organization argues that the justified response to these issues is to increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court and fill the seats with left-of-center justices. ⁵

Take Back the Court Foundation produces studies on the political impact of Supreme Court decisions and promoted the Judiciary Act of 2021, which, if passed, would have added four seats to the Supreme Court during the term of then-President Joe Biden. ⁵

Research produced by the organization include documents entitled “The Supreme Court May Greenlight a Fringe Scheme That Threatens the Core of Democracy,” “MAGA Justices Have Already Interfered int eh 2024 Election,” and “Supreme Court Repeals the 20^th Century.” ⁶

Leadership

Aaron Belkin is the founder of Take Back the Court Action Fund. Belkin stepped down as the president of Take Back the Court Action Fund in 2022. Belkin is also a professor at San Francisco State University. Previously he was an associate professor at University of California, Santa Barbara. ^{2 3}

Sarah Lipton-Lubet became the president of Take Back the Court Action Fund in 2023. Previously she was the executive director of the organization, was principal at SLL Strategies, held multiple positions in at the National Partnership for Women and Families, was policy counsel at the ACLU, was legislative policy counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights, and was a legislative assistant at Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. ⁷

Affiliated Organizations

Take Back the Court Action fund is the 501(c)(4) advocacy arm of the 501(c)(3) Take Back the Court Foundation, a left-of-center advocacy group which supports adding seats to the United States Supreme Court once Democrats gain control of government. Take Back the Court Foundation was founded in 2019 in response to President Doland Trump’s appointments of justices to the Supreme Court and advocated for Democrats to abolish the Senate filibuster and pass laws to add seats to the Supreme Court as soon as they retook power. ^{1 4 8}

According to tax filings, Take Back the Court Action Fund is also affiliated with the Palm Center, a San-Francisco-based, LGBT-focused research institution. ^{4 9}

Take Back the Court Foundation claims its advocacy is supported by a large number of left-of-center groups, including the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Alliance for Justice, Black Lives Matter, Center for Community Change, Climate Action Network, CODEPINK, Color of Change, Demand Justice, Demos, Greenpeace USA, League of Conservation Voters, MoveOn, NARAL Pro-Choice America, Reproaction, the SEIU, and the Working Families Party. ¹⁰

Financials

According to tax filings, in 2022 Take Back the Court Action Fund reported $532,756 in revenue, $653,916 in expenses, and $615,125 in assets. Of its expenses, the organization spent $499,678 that year on public advocacy campaigns to promote packing the Supreme Court when Democrats had control of both the legislative and executive branches of government.  Of its revenue, $432,740 was received from gifts, grants, and other contributions. Of those contributions, $308,184 were received from the Take Back the Court Foundation. ⁴

1. “Statement and Designation by Foreign Corporation: Take Back the Court Action Fund.” California Secretary of State. Filed November 23, 2020. Accessed April 2, 2025. https://businesssearch.sos.ca.gov/Document/RetrievePDF?Id=04668239-29423048
2. “Here’s How We Put Court Expansion on the Map.” Take Back the Court Action Fund. Accessed April 2, 2025. https://www.takebackthecourt.today/heres-how-we-put-court-expansion-on-the-map
3. “Aaron Belkin (He/Him).” LinkedIn. Accessed April 2, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-belkin-568aa92ab/.
4. Take Back the Court Action Fund. Return of an Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990). 2022.
5. “Take Back the Court Action Fund.” Take Back the Court Action Fund. Accessed April 2, 2025. https://www.takebackthecourt.today/.
6. “Studies.” Take Back the Court Action Fund. Accessed April 2, 2025. https://www.takebackthecourt.today/studies.
7. “Sarah Lipton-Lubet.” LinkedIn. Accessed April 2, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-lipton-lubet-369a5113/details/experience/.
8. “Mission.” Take Back the Court. Accessed April 2, 2025. https://www.takebackthecourt.today/mission
9. “Palm Center.” Palm Center. Accessed April 2, 2025. https://palmcenterlegacy.org/.
10. “Who Supports Court Expansion.” Take Back the Court Action Fund. Accessed April 2, 2025. https://www.takebackthecourt.today/who-supports-court-expansion.