In case you had any doubts about the new Supreme Court, the past couple of weeks have confirmed our worst fears: The pendulum has swung far to the right. That is why we have to roll up our sleeves and work as hard as we have ever worked before.

We understood the risks. Lambda Legal opposed President Bush’s new appointees, Chief Justice John G. Roberts and Justice Samuel A. Alito, and worked with other groups to raise important questions about their judicial philosophies.

What we didn’t know was how fast the new conservative majority would act to roll back historic civil rights principles — in the words of Justice Stephen G. Breyer: “It is not often in the law that so few have so quickly changed so much.” The irony is that our opponents call jurists on our side “activist judges”!

Breyer was referring to the court’s 5-4 decision that invalidated school integration plans in Seattle and Louisville, Kentucky, but his words are an apt summary of the entire term. In fact, according to the New York Times, one third of the court’s decision’s were decided by 5-4 margins and most along ideological lines. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy (the author of Lambda Legal’s historic Supreme Court victory striking down all sodomy laws) has taken up the mantle of the vital swing vote — and he is proving to be more conservative than his predecessor in this role, Sandra Day O’Connor.

In addition to striking down certain school integration plans, the court curtailed taxpayers’ right to challenge the president’s use of federal money for faith-based initiatives, limited people’s ability to bring employment discrimination lawsuits and put women’s reproductive health and rights at risk by upholding the so-called federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.

Fair and impartial courts are vital to our democracy, and at Lambda Legal we take the fight for fair courts seriously. Through our Courting Justice project, we continue to work on several levels. While the Supreme Court often steals the limelight, other federal and state judicial nominations are also important. (Remember only 60 or so cases are decided by the Supreme Court every year while thousands terminate at lower federal courts; additionally state courts have the final say in many matters affecting LGBT people and those with HIV.)

Lambda Legal has taken an active role in speaking out about nominations in the past few years, sometimes opposing candidates and other times pushing Congress to ask tough questions of nominees. Most recently we submitted questions to Senator Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vermont) concerning the nomination of Fifth Circuit nominee Leslie Southwick. At issue for us was a ruling Southwick joined saying a mother’s bisexuality could be a factor in a custody lawsuit. A few of our questions made it word for word into the public record, and although Southwick’s fate is still unclear, we are confident that our voice made a difference.

As we continue to lay the groundwork for fair courts in the nominations process, we are equally committed to helping people understand why courts matter and how decisions at every level affect people’s lives. Lambda Legal’s “Life Without Fair Courts,” comic strip series offers a surreal take on what life would be like without certain precedent-setting decisions. We’re also running an illustration contest where we’ve asked people to give us their take on “Life Without Fair Courts.”

We hope the comics will make people laugh, but more importantly, we hope they deliver the message that fair courts are a crucial component of our democracy and often the last bastion of hope for those who’ve been denied fundamental rights.

We know what it means to support “fair and independent courts.” It does not mean that the LGBT community will win every court battle or that judges will always agree with our positions. What it does mean is that the Supreme Court and every other court in our country must uphold our Constitution for all people. Our courts must hear all voices and protect the rights of everyone, regardless of whether the people seeking their protection are in the majority or the minority.