These will be the topics for the last presidential debate
Young Americans from across the country will protest the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett on the steps of the Supreme Court on Saturday, organizers tell CNN.
The rally, which organizers are calling “McConnell v. Justice,” will show elected officials that young people are committed to holding their elected officials accountable, organizers say.
Progressive activists from Alabama, Colorado, California, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Texas, Virginia and more are traveling to Washington, DC, for the event.
These leaders care about a number of issues including racial justice, police reform, LGBTQIA rights, disability rights, access to reproductive rights, immigrant rights, environmental justice and gun violence prevention – all of which, they say, are at stake with Barrett’s nomination.
The organizers are also calling for the Senate to halt the nomination process of Barrett, demanding that there should be “no confirmation until inauguration.”
“We have the most at stake in whomever is nominated and confirmed to the Supreme Court of the United States,” organizers of the rally wrote in a press release, noting that young people will be around the longest to witness the impact of Barrett becoming a justice if she is confirmed.
The youth-led rally will feature a number of speakers including: Aalayah Eastmond, 19-year-old gun violence prevention activist; Mari Copeny, 13-year-old environmental justice activist who has fought for clean drinking water in Flint, Michigan; Rachel Gonzalez, 21-year-old disability justice activist who has advocated for the Affordable Care Act; and Ty Hobson-Powell, 25-year-old leader in the fight for DC statehood.
In addition to the featured speakers, young people from across the country are joining the McConnell v. Justice coalition.
Tay Anderson, 22-year-old director-at-large on the Denver School Board, told CNN that he has traveled to D.C. with 60 young Coloradans between the ages of 13 and 45.
“If we have to travel 1,600 miles from Colorado, we will,” Anderson said, adding that many in his group had never been to DC prior to their arrival Thursday.
Jonathan Sweeney, a 22-year-old from Ohio, told CNN that he is joining the McConnell v. Justice protest because as a gay man, he “can’t afford to have Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court.” Sweeney added that, as an Ohioan, his vote could end up in the hands of the Supreme Court.
Likewise, Deja Foxx, a 20-year-old advocate for reproductive rights, traveled from California for the protest.
Foxx told CNN she cast her first ever presidential election ballot for Biden and Harris before getting on the plane to DC Friday.
“I’m protesting because I know that when you have control over your body, you have control over your future,” Foxx said Friday, adding that she believes Barrett “poses a serious threat to choice for my generation and those to come,” she said.
