POLITICO -- For more than 10 years, Aaron Belkin slowly and methodically worked to shift public opinion on “don’t ask, don’t tell,” chipping away at the hardened view that openly gay Americans had no place in the military.
When the law was repealed in 2011, the San Francisco State University Political Science professor felt vindication in his belief that an aggressive communications campaign can bring success to long-shot causes.
Now Belkin has a new target: the Supreme Court.
Belkin and fellow academic-activists have launched the 1/20/21 Project, which aims to add four seats to the Supreme Court soon after Inauguration Day after the 2020 election. Though Belkin said he isn’t looking for a partisan shift in the court and is instead taking back seats he claims Republicans stole, adding four seats could pave the way for an influx of progressive justices that could tip the high court way to the left.