Something to consider ....Obama can attempt to “Pack the Court” al la FDR.. what stopped FDR was he didn’t have a majority in the congress.
The O if he wanted could change the number of justices and stuff it with lefties like him self ..
See the Wicki snip below ...
The United States Constitution does not specify the size of the Supreme Court, but Article III authorizes the Congress to fix the number of justices. The Judiciary Act of 1789 called for the appointment of six justices. As the country grew geographically, Congress increased the number of justices to correspond with the growing number of judicial circuits: the court was expanded to seven members in 1807, nine in 1837 and ten in 1863.
At the request of Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, Congress passed the Judicial Circuits Act (1866) which provided that the next three justices to retire would not be replaced; thus, the size of the Court should have eventually reached seven by attrition. Consequently, one seat was removed in 1866 and a second in 1867. However, this law did not play out to completion, for in the Judiciary Act of 1869,[74] also known as the Circuit Judges Act, the number of justices was again set at nine, where it has since remained.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt attempted to expand the Court in 1937, seeking to appoint an additional justice for each incumbent justice who reached the age of 70 years 6 months and refused retirement; under Roosevelt’s proposal, such appointments would continue until the Court reached a maximum size of 15 justices. Ostensibly, the proposal was made to ease the burdens of the docket on the elderly judges, but the President’s actual purpose was to pack the Court with justices who would support New Deal policies and legislation.[75] This plan, usually called the “Court-packing Plan”, failed in Congress and proved a political disaster for Roosevelt.[76] The balance of the Court shifted with the retirement of Willis Van Devanter and the confirmation of Hugo Black in August 1937. By the end of 1941, Roosevelt had appointed seven Supreme Court justices and elevated Harlan Fiske Stone to Chief Justice.[77]
Obama needs 60 votes in the U.S. Senate to stack the courts. He doesn’t have them and never will.
If and when they get all three branches (executive, legislative,, and judicial) of the federal government in their total control. We will have become a nation beyond recovery. We are in fact threatened seriously with that circumstance anyway. The Constitution is being ignored as if it did not exist.
God help us in our day, in Jesus name, amen.
The WH actually floated this idea (expanding the SC) a few weeks ago.
I suspect they’d be able to do it, too.
Obama can attempt to “Pack the Court” al la FDR . . . what stopped FDR was he didn’t have a majority in the congress.
When FDR tried it, the Democrats had just won a big majority in Congress - and even then packing the court was too controversial to pass.FDR lost a lot of popularity at the time over his attempt. It wasn't the only time he overplayed his hand; after the attack on Pearl Harbor he demanded the defeat of the isolationist congressmen who had opposed his foreign policy. But since 80% of the public had opposed entry into the war prior to Pearl Harbor, and since the congressmen in question had gone hawkish after Pearl Harbor in sync with their constituents, FDR's appeal backfired.
I doubt a president who is already underwater in the polls can gain by trying something that blew up in FDR's face when he tried to do it.
It is however perfectly true that the number of justices was left by the Framers to a simple majority in Congress. I would favor a constitutional amendment to fix the number of justices at 11 and term limit them to 22 years, so that each president would get two nominees per 4-year term. And possibly make those two nominees be "running mates" of the presidential candidates, so that the people would know the candidate's judicial philosophy.