Judge Amy Coney Barrett went from judge to justice on Monday night after the Senate confirmed her in a 52-48 vote and Justice Clarence Thomas swore her in outside of the White House.
“The oath that I have taken tonight means, at its cor,e that I will do my job without any fear or favor and that I will do so independently of both the political branches and of my preferences,” Barrett promised.
While Barrett’s confirmation is seen by many conservatives as a victory for working moms, originalism, the unborn, and America’s future, the battle for the Supreme Court is far from over.
The Democrats not only lost their campaigns against Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, two of President Donald Trump’s other SCOTUS nominees, but they left the Senate chambers with dramatic “thumbs down” votes on Monday night, outraged at Barrett’s confirmation.
The reason for their kicking and screaming, the left claims, is that Trump and Republicans are “packing the court” and violating congressional norms that they wanted to uphold during former President Barack Obama’s administration. Now they are promising vengeance for what they claim is an atrocity against women and people with pre-existing conditions. We shouldn’t ignore their threats.
Biden Or Not, Court Packing Is On the Agenda
If elected, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will pack the Supreme Court. It’s inevitable. His consistent and defensive refusal to answer questions from reporters, presidential debate moderator Chris Wallace, and Trump about adding justices speaks for itself.
“You’ll know my opinion on court-packing when the election is over,” Biden said in early October during a campaign stop in Phoenix.
“I’m not going to answer the question,” Biden told Trump on the debate stage. “Will you shut up, man?”
“No, they don’t deserve — I’m not going to play his game,” Biden said when asked if voters deserve to know his position on packing the Supreme Court.
Even if Biden doesn’t win the presidency, leftists, Democrats, and the mainstream media are running with the court-packing narrative.
“Why can’t Democrats constitutionally finish what FDR started back over 80 years ago and add a couple of justices in response to Republican radicalism?” MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough asked Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. “It’s constitutional, and by Mitch McConnell’s standard, you would be in your right to do that, correct?”
“We would certainly be in the constitutional right to do it,” Schumer replied.
On the Senate floor on Monday, Sen. Blumenthal promised “consequences” for the Republicans’ perfectly constitutional actions in confirming Barrett, suggesting that the Democrats will retaliate.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was even blunter in her advocacy for adding justices, tweeting that Democrats should “expand the court” to push back on Republican “bulldozing.”
“Republicans do this because they don’t believe Dems have the stones to play hardball like they do. And for a long time they’ve been correct. But do not let them bully the public into thinking their bulldozing is normal but a response isn’t. There is a legal process for expansion,” she wrote.
Republicans do this because they don’t believe Dems have the stones to play hardball like they do. And for a long time they’ve been correct. But do not let them bully the public into thinking their bulldozing is normal but a response isn’t. There is a legal process for expansion.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 27, 2020
Why Does It Matter?
By adding carefully selected justices to expand the Supreme Court beyond nine justices, the Democrats are ensuring that they will be able to enact unpopular left-wing policies that can be backed by an intentionally slanted court. All Democrats will need is a small majority in the Senate to pass their legislation to add justices, creating a protective barrier between them and the people they are supposed to represent so their agendas may proceed.
While some have argued that the left couldn’t get away with such a drastic legislative move without nuking the filibuster, that’s on the table too. Democrat senators such as Sens. Chris Coons, Elizabeth Warren, Joe Manchin, and others began advocating for “filibuster reform” in July, suggesting that removing the legislative procedure would allow for ease in passing the legislation they want.
“I will not stand idly by for four years and watch the Biden administration’s initiatives blocked at every turn,” Coons said in an interview with Politico. “I am gonna try really hard to find a path forward that doesn’t require removing what’s left of the structural guardrails, but if there’s a Biden administration, it will be inheriting a mess, at home and abroad. It requires urgent and effective action.”
“We’re going to have a real challenge being able to legislate,” Coons said. “If we’re going to legislate durable solutions … we have to be having conversations now about what’s the path forward towards a healthier, more functional Senate.”
As Coons stated, a “functional Senate” is one that will pass the agenda desired by the Democrats, which includes adding justices to SCOTUS.
