The news can feel overwhelming. But each week, we pause to highlight a person, organization or movement sticking up for their principles. This week’s challengers are a group of retired judges.
Generally speaking, judges shy away from politics. Even those that have to run for election tend to campaign in a lower key. But a group of 30 judges, including two former federal judges and two current federal judges, decided that the current moment is different, going on a bus tour to argue that the rule of law is in grave danger in the U.S. right now. The four-day tour, dubbed “Justice in Motion,” made stops in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan. It was put together by the nonpartisan advocacy groups Democracy Rising Collaborative and Keep Our Republic, inspired by a similar campaign in Poland in 2021 after the country’s governing party took control of key judicial institutions. In interviews and speeches, the judges stressed that the U.S. is at a turning point. “Looking back in history, we have teetered,” former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Michael Donnelly told The Associated Press. “This is a moment where we can decide to reinstill those beliefs that we are a country of laws and not of men.”
