A group of Sandy Hook survivors gathered for a press conference in Newtown Wednesday afternoon, lending their voices to a new national campaign to reform the U.S. Supreme Court.
More than 30 advocacy groups with various areas of focus have gathered under the banner of the Just Majority campaign, calling for term limits for justices, an expanded court and other reforms.
Ashley Hubner was 7 years old when she survived the 2012 school shooting. Now a senior at Newtown High, she said she’s become numb to constant mass shootings and the overall lack of action from policy makers in Washington.
“They have had so much time to make things better, to make things right, and they have failed,” Hubner said. “We need to reform the Supreme Court, we need term limits, and we need people that are going to value our lives more than money and guns.”
Hubner and others from groups like Newtown Action Alliance say the Supreme Court’s decision last year in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen proves the Court is not serious about curbing gun violence.
The 6-3 ruling struck down a century-old gun law in New York regulating licenses to carry a gun outside of the home. The decision could prevent states from enforcing certain gun restrictions, according to NPR.
In a statement on its website, the Just Majority campaign said “partisan justices are basing their decisions on politics and not the law.”
The organization said the Supreme Court has “stripped women of the right to make the most important decisions of their lives. They are granting guns more rights than our kids, ripping voting rights to shreds, and ruling in lockstep with the rich and powerful.”
The group said Newtown is the second stop on a planned bus tour that will culminate in Washington, D.C. in June.
The group said it launched the campaign following ethical violations alleged of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.