WILMINGTON, Del.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Following the recent retirement announcement of Vice Chancellor Joseph Slights III from Delaware’s Court of Chancery, Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware is announcing the launch of a six-figure campaign calling on Governor Carney to nominate a Black justice on the all-white Chancery Court.
Today, Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware released a new television advertisement, “Join Our Voices,” featuring national civil rights leaders Reverend Al Sharpton and Martin Luther King III, as well as local faith leader and activist Pastor Blaine Hackett. The ad calls on Governor Carney to appoint a Black justice to the Chancery Court for just the second time in the court’s 230-year history.
The vacancy left by Vice Chancellor Slights’ retirement gives Gov. Carney his third opportunity to prioritize diverse leadership and appoint a Black justice to the Chancery Court since Tamika Montgomery-Reeves left the court in January of 2020.
Said Rev. Sharpton, “The overwhelmingly Democratic, and supposedly liberal state of Delaware faces staggering and unacceptably low levels of diversity in its judicial ranks. Of the First State’s highest courts, fewer than 15 percent of the justices are Black, despite Black people making up a disproportionate percentage of the state’s prison population. Right now, Delaware Governor John Carney has an opportunity to turn his record on judicial appointments around by nominating a Black justice to the Court of Chancery, an opportunity he cannot afford to miss.”
Said Martin Luther King III, “To ensure Governor Carney follows President Biden’s footsteps in diversifying the judiciary, I am proud to be working side by side with local activists and judicial advocacy groups to fight for diversified courts in Delaware, because we know that leadership at the top does not just filter down naturally. The transcendent change we wish to realize will take an extraordinary effort to accomplish, an effort that every American should fight to make, from city halls to statehouses to the Supreme Court.”
The TV ad script featuring Rev. Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III, and Pastor Blaine Hackett reads:
“There is a movement building.
A movement born from our fathers, that transcends time.
A movement for diversity, for God-given rights, and for justice.
From Georgia, to New York, to the first state, Delaware.
In 230 years, there’s been just one Black justice on the Court of Chancery.
Right now, there are none.
It’s time to join our voices to say – we need diverse courts now!”
Said Chris Coffey, Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware Campaign Manager: “We are grateful to Rev. Sharpton, Martin Luther King III, and Pastor Hackett for lending their voices to this powerful movement for long-overdue change in Delaware’s top courts. We urge Governor Carney to do the right thing this spring by appointing a Black justice to replace Vice Chancellor Slights and help begin restoring trust in the Court of Chancery. Rev. Sharpton is right, there is a movement for diversity building from the Supreme Court of the United States down – it’s time for Delaware to join this movement.”
Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware is a group made up of more than 5,000 members including employees of the global translation services company TransPerfect, as well as concerned Delaware residents, business executives and others. They formed in April of 2016 to focus on raising awareness with Delaware residents, elected officials, and other stakeholders about the unprecedented, forced sale of TransPerfect. While their primary goal of saving the company has been accomplished, they continue their efforts to fight for more transparency in the Delaware Chancery Court. For more information on Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware or to join the cause, visit DelawareForBusiness.org.
