Take Back the Court

Background

Aaron Belkin founded Take Back the Court in 2018, describing the moment that the Republican-controlled Senate declined to hold a confirmation vote on President Barack Obama’s 2016 Supreme Court nominee, then-Judge Merrick Garland, as the catalyst for launching the organization. At the time of its founding, Belkin stated that no members of Congress and no organizations in the United States publicly backed Supreme Court expansion; he credited the organization with helping shift that environment significantly in subsequent years. ^{2 5}

Belkin previously worked for 24 years as the founding director of the Palm Center, a San Francisco-based LGBT advocacy group. The Palm Center is credited with influencing the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and the 2016 lifting of the ban on transgender service members. Belkin is also a professor of political science at San Francisco State University. ^{5 6}

Kate Kendell, the organization’s co-founder, had served as executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, an LGBT advocacy group that advances left-wing social policy through litigation and lobbying, and previously worked the Southern Poverty Law Center and the California Endowment. As of 2026 she was the CEO of the Gill Foundation. ^{7 8}

Activities

Take Back the Court Foundation has positioned court expansion, adding four seats to the Supreme Court to be filled by a Democratic president, as its central goal. The group produced research arguing that the Court’s conservative majority posed threats to climate change legislation, abortion access, labor union interests, and election administration. Publications released under the organization’s banner include reports titled “Stolen Supreme Court Threatens to Undo Decades of Environmental Progress,” “The Supreme Court May Greenlight a Fringe Scheme That Threatens the Core of Democracy,” and “Supreme Court Repeals the 20th Century. ^{3 9}

Judiciary Act

Take Back the Court became one of the most vocal outside advocates for the Judiciary Act of 2021, proposed legislation introduced by Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) that would have expanded the Supreme Court from nine to 13 justices, enabling then-President Joe Biden to immediately nominate and the Democratic-controlled Senate to confirm four new, presumably liberal, justices. The legislation did not advance; then-President Biden, who had previously opposed court-packing, announced a presidential commission to study changes to the court rather than immediately endorsing expansion. ^{10 11 5}

By the time Belkin departed from the organization in late 2022, Take Back the Court reported that more than 60 members of Congress and over 130 organizations had pledged support for court expansion, and claimed majority public support for the idea in polling. ¹²

The Judiciary Act was reintroduced in 2023 and did not advance with Republicans in control of the U.S. House of Representatives. The legislation was not introduced in 2025 after Republican Donald Trump returned to the presidency. ^{13 14}

Coalition Work

Take Back the Court has operated in coalition with other left-wing judicial advocacy organizations. In January 2021, it joined the “Unrig the Courts” coalition alongside Demand Justice, Indivisible, and others to press then-President Biden to support court expansion. In 2023, the group became part of Just Majority, an umbrella coalition of more than 40 left-wing organizations that promoted the Judiciary Act. ^{15 16}

Polling

Take Back the Court has also conducted several polls on voter opinions of the Supreme Court. One January 2019 poll revealed that partisan priming has significant effects on low-information voters’ opinions of Supreme Court justices, and that voters who are given the partisan label of the President who appointed Supreme Court justices report lower overall faith in the Supreme Court’s neutrality. ¹⁷

A May 2019 Take Back the Court messaging poll argues that after being told that Republican business interests resulted in the appointment of President Trump’s Supreme Court Justices, a majority of Democrats favor Court expansion. Only 24 percent of voters who were not primed with any politically charged information supported adding seats to the Supreme Court. ¹⁸

Take Back the Court has opposed the concept of an independent judiciary, with director Aaron Belkin telling the Daily Signal that there can be no “objective” court, and that it is healthy for the public to see a political dimension to justice. Belkin argued in 2019 that when Democrats gained control of government once again, they should expand the court to have as many additional seats as justices President Trump was able to appoint because he “acquired the presidency illegitimately.” ¹⁹

Leadership

As of 2026, Sarah Lipton-Lubet was the president of Take Back the Court, a position she held since 2023 when she replaced founder Aaron Belkin. She was previously executive director of the group and has worked for left-of-center advocacy groups including the National Partnership for Women and Families, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Center for Reproductive Rights. ²⁰