Today, Citizens for Judicial Fairness announced a $200,000+ advocacy campaign designed to pressure Delaware Governor John Carney to replace Supreme Court Justice Tamika Montgomery-Reeves, who has been nominated by President Joe Biden to join the US Third Circuit Court of Appeals, with a Black justice. Montgomery-Reeves was the first Black woman justice on both the Delaware Chancery Court when she was appointed in 2015 and the Delaware Supreme Court upon her appointment in 2019. Her departure from the Supreme Court will leave both the Supreme Court and  with zero Black judges.
Said Citizens for Judicial Fairness Campaign Manager Chris Coffey, “We congratulate Justice Tamika Montgomery-Reeves on her well-deserved nomination, and we will do our utmost to ensure she is confirmed to the Circuit Court. Yet again, President Biden has shown bold and courageous leadership while Governor Carney has been nothing but a coward when it comes to actually making our courts more equitable.
“Because of Carney’s failure to lead, the Chancery Court, where Supreme Court justices are often pulled from, has continued to be all-white since Montgomery-Reeves’ departure 3 years ago. We’re launching this six-figure advocacy campaign because that lack of equity is despicable, and we can’t let Carney get away with appointing another member of the Delaware Old Boys’ Club to replace Justice Montgomery-Reeves. We are going to call out Governor Carney for his lack of leadership and make sure he listens to the voices of thousands of Delawareans who want their courts to actually look like them. We will do everything in our power– including paid media, grassroots canvassing, protests, and more – to guarantee that Governor Carney makes the right choice, and look forward to working with inspiring partners like Reverend Al Sharpton and Keandra McDole to do so.â€
This campaign is the latest advocacy effort from Citizens for Judicial Fairness, which has spent the past 3+ years fighting for increased diversity and equity in Delaware’s courts and legal system. CJF will continue to fight until Delaware’s courts look like the Delawareans they are meant to represent, and restore trust that they will provide equal justice to all Delawareans.
