In a clear partisan effort to pack the U.S. Supreme Court with more liberal justices, congressional Democrats introduced a bill on Thursday seeking to expand the number of justices from nine to 13.
The bill was introduced just days after Biden commissioned 36 left-leaning scholars, former judges, and lawyers led by a former Obama adviser to evaluate expanding the number of justices. The White House marketed the so-called “bipartisan” commission as a 180-day effort to examine and outline “the genesis of the reform debate, the Court’s role in the Constitutional system, the length of service and turnover of justices on the Court” as well as “the Court’s case selection, rules, and practices.”
Democrats’ new legislation shows the commission is merely a ruse to appease those easily fooled by Biden’s false unity rhetoric.
Biden previously refused to admit he wants to pack the courts, but after mounting pressure from progressive activists who want to retaliate against former President Donald Trump’s court picks, he prioritized what he called “Court reform” because he said the system is “getting out of whack.”
Former and current justices, even those who are hailed by the progressives, have previously warned against a partisan effort from either party to increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court because it would undermine the judicial branch’s “legal principle,” but the Democrats won’t listen.
“I hope and expect that the court will retain its authority,” Justice Stephen Breyer said. “But that authority, like the rule of law, depends on trust, a trust that the court is guided by legal principle, not politics. Structural alteration motivated by the perception of political influence can only feed that perception, further eroding that trust.”
Late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg issued a similar warning against expanding the Court in 2016, saying it could damage judicial integrity.
“It’s important that the Supreme Court is able to resolve conflicts among other courts about what the federal law is. That’s why eight is not a good number,” Ginsburg explained. “If we’re unable to decide the question, you can have one federal law in one area of the country and the opposite federal law in another part of the country.”
We knew that if Democrats won the presidency and both chambers of Congress, they would pack the Supreme Court. How could we not after countless congressional leftists such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez signaled their intent to get revenge on Republicans for bypassing their malicious stalling campaigns against Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh?
The Democrats not only left the confirmation hearings for all of Trump’s justices kicking and screaming, but they also falsely accused the Republican president, aided by GOP senators, of “packing the court” and vowed to use their power to do it back.
Some of these same leftist lawmakers, such as Democrat Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) who, along with Democrat Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), sponsored the court expansion legislation, are drastically changing their previous position on court-packing to align themselves with the newest Democrat agenda item.
Same career politician – only a few years apart. We need principled Senators. pic.twitter.com/UALGnsJIzP
— Mark Walker (@RepMarkWalker) April 15, 2021
Others such as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi have hesitated at the jamming through a court-packing bill at the moment, but the Democrat leader still said she supports Biden’s commission and justified its future results by saying that the expansion of the Supreme Court has occurred before.
“It’s not out of the question,” she explained in a Thursday press conference. “It has been done before in the history of our country a long time ago. And the growth of our country, the size of our country, the growth of our challenges in terms of the economy, etc. might necessitate such a thing.”
Speaker Pelosi on Rep. Nadler's bill to expand the Supreme Court: "I have no plans to bring it to the floor." https://t.co/gtamAgH7l6 pic.twitter.com/PymSwXbq7m
— The Hill (@thehill) April 15, 2021
Even if the currently proposed bill is not brought to the House floor, Democrats are ready to act when Pelosi, Schumer, and Biden give word. The same Democrats who want to see the judiciary drastically change have already promised to nuke the filibuster, effectively eliminating any chance Republicans stand at shooting down a future of left-wing policies that can be justified and supported by a rigged court.
President Joe Biden also hinted that he would support a certain kind of filibuster “reform” if it meant keeping his progressive agenda moving.
“I don’t think that you have to eliminate the filibuster, you have to do it what it used to be when I first got to the Senate back in the old days. You had to stand up and command the floor, you had to keep talking,” Biden told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos last month.
“So you’re for that reform? You’re for bringing back the talking filibuster?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“I am. That’s what it was supposed to be,” Biden said. “It’s getting to the point where, you know, democracy is having a hard time functioning.”
The democracy Biden wants, however, isn’t the same democracy afforded to Americans who trust their political systems to give voice to the minority. It’s the same kind of democracy that uses big tech, big business, and any legislative power to squash and silence dissenters.
