Hank Johnson Jr. (GA-4) (D) hosted two panels at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s annual conference in Washington, and his campaign’s Sept. 24 release quoted him on where he sees the gravest danger: “In my opinion, the greatest threat is not Donald Trump. It’s not the legislative branch under Republican control. It’s the Supreme Court.”
Rashad Richey moderated the first panel, on protecting Black journalists, athletes and entertainers, including the use of song lyrics as evidence. Jasmine Clark (HD-108) (D), the Democratic nominee for Georgia’s 13th Congressional District, joined journalist April Ryan and Athletes.org executive director Brandon Copeland on that panel. Elie Mystal moderated the second, on judiciary reform.
Johnson has made the court a focus of his work in Congress. He is the author of the RAP Act, which would put guardrails on the use of lyrics in criminal prosecutions, and of bills that would impose a binding ethics code on Supreme Court justices, set 18-year term limits for justices and expand the court from nine to 13 justices.
