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Democrats must consider court-packing when they regain power. It’s the only way to save democracy.
Wash Post ^ | 7-10-2018 | David Farls

Posted on 07/10/2018 8:58:26 AM PDT by tcrlaf

Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement from the Supreme Court, and President Trump’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to replace him, is the doomsday scenario liberals feared when Senate Republicans thwarted the appointment of Merrick Garland in 2016: The GOP’s brazen act of democratic sabotage will almost certainly deliver the high court to the far right for a generation. In the years ahead, the court will probably further erode reproductive rights, gay rights and voting rights, ushering in the darkest era in American history since the post-Reconstruction period.

Sounds hysterical, right? After all, Democrats will get their chance at reversing the court’s majority when they get back in power, as early as 2021. Except court appointments don’t work like elections. The remaining conservatives on the court are young — Clarence Thomas is the oldest at 70 — and Trump is insistent on naming young justices. It is possible that a two-term Democratic president could serve from 2021 to 2029 without being able to replace a single Republican-appointed justice.

That grim reality is leading many on the left to contemplate radical ideas, including an idea considered and discarded 80 years ago: court-packing. The idea of court-packing — adding extra justices to the Supreme Court in order to change its ideological makeup — causes most Americans to blanch. But if done right, it would actually offer a crucial avenue for safeguarding American democracy.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: acherrytreetoofar; babyharpseals; boogedyboogedy; dncstrategy; nazidemocrats; scotus; summerofdemocrathate; thebabyharpsealcure; theyarecomingforyou; theyrecomingforunext; trumpscotus
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To: freedomlover

Hahahahaha...I’m taking that!


81 posted on 07/10/2018 9:46:10 AM PDT by rlmorel (Leftists: They believe in the "Invisible Hand" only when it is guided by government.)
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To: rlmorel
David "Seditionboy" Faris wrote: For that, they must, and will, pay a steep price.

Sounds like a threat to me.

How about a nice necklace in a 175/65R14/XL Michelin, David?...

82 posted on 07/10/2018 9:46:13 AM PDT by kiryandil (Never pick a fight with an angry beehive)
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To: kiryandil
His own lefty friends will do that to him if he doesn't go far enough to the Left for them...after all, that is their modus operandi...
83 posted on 07/10/2018 9:51:04 AM PDT by rlmorel (Leftists: They believe in the "Invisible Hand" only when it is guided by government.)
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To: tcrlaf

Of the last 4 democratic appointments, Breyer is the only one that came with credentials at least worthy of the court. The other 3 were fortunate to get out of law school.


84 posted on 07/10/2018 9:51:43 AM PDT by Phlap (REDNECK@LIBARTS.EDU)
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To: tcrlaf
The [fascist Roosevelt court-packing] plan was made redundant by the “switch in time that saved nine,” whereby a key swing justice began approving liberal measures, including a Washington state minimum-wage law identical to a New York statute the court had struck down just the year before.

Sounds like they got to one like they got to Roberts...

85 posted on 07/10/2018 9:58:07 AM PDT by kiryandil (Never pick a fight with an angry beehive)
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To: mrmeyer

You’ve got that right, I am sick and tired of those that claim democracy is in danger. This is a representative Republic. demoncracy is ‘mob rule’


86 posted on 07/10/2018 10:02:59 AM PDT by Conservative4Life (But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death:Proverbs 8:36)
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To: caseinpoint
We are a democratic republic

Constitutional Republic

Even WIKI got this one correct (at least it was the last time I read it on there... They even had it explained WHY the U.S.A. was NOT a DEMOCRATIC nation)
87 posted on 07/10/2018 10:03:33 AM PDT by Bikkuri
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To: tcrlaf

what is their version of “Democracy”? Do whatever you want without consequences and someone else pays for you mistakes?


88 posted on 07/10/2018 10:04:36 AM PDT by outpostinmass2
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To: billyboy15

It’s up to Congress to determine. The original number was 6

If they bring a knife . . .


89 posted on 07/10/2018 10:05:08 AM PDT by A_Former_Democrat (Call RedHen (540) 464-4401 and make no-show reservations)
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To: fireman15

Trump, talk radio and the GOP needs to jump all over this.

Just ask the so called “moderates” and “independents” and non votings:

Are they REALLY who you want back in power? Seriously.


90 posted on 07/10/2018 10:07:25 AM PDT by A_Former_Democrat (Call RedHen (540) 464-4401 and make no-show reservations)
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To: FLT-bird

No, democrats are in lockstep with each other. See obamacrapcare.


91 posted on 07/10/2018 10:08:41 AM PDT by subterfuge (RIP T.P.)
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To: tcrlaf

And then when the Republicans get back in, they will pack it again. Until we have a couple hundred justices.


92 posted on 07/10/2018 10:09:27 AM PDT by Opinionated Blowhard (When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.)
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To: tcrlaf
The Leftist's Pledge:

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the DEMOCRACY for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Don't try to tell them we have a Republic. It's a little too deep for them to grasp, and they're too busy trying to inform us, to learn anything.

93 posted on 07/10/2018 10:11:53 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (Take a look out there folks. Can you see evidence of a Left Wing Hate Group, perhaps fascist too?)
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To: tcrlaf

Actually, all the things they are worried about with the courts have nothing to do with democracy or republican democracy - they are worried about overturning judicial fiat. In other words, the Democrats are against democratic votes - but for Judicial tyranny.


94 posted on 07/10/2018 10:12:33 AM PDT by rb22982
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To: DoughtyOne
If we actually tell it like it is...

The poor confused Leftist's Pledge:

I do not pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the DEMOCRACY for which it stands, one Nation under without God, indivisible, and without liberty and justice for all anyone.

...and so they kneel...

95 posted on 07/10/2018 10:19:26 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (Take a look out there folks. Can you see evidence of a Left Wing Hate Group, perhaps fascist too?)
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To: Bikkuri

Thanks for the correction. I see that the term is somewhat vague. “Eugene Volokh of the UCLA School of Law notes that the United States exemplifies the varied nature of a democratic republic—a country where some decisions (often local) are made by direct democratic processes, while others (often federal) are made by democratically elected representatives. As with many large systems, US governance is incompletely described by any single term.” Wikiipedia. I will, however, defer to your term in the future.


96 posted on 07/10/2018 10:20:27 AM PDT by caseinpoint (Don't get thickly involved in thin things.)
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To: tcrlaf

They’re just admitting that, given the chance, they have no problem stacking the court full of ideologues where conservatives aren’t represented. Yet they’re horrified the other side might do the same. This convinces them the other side **MUST** be doing the same.

This is the difference. We actually believe in faithful interpretation of the Constitution. They believe it says what they want it to say. They believe that the “living” Constitution means constant reinterpretation. Wrong, it means it provided a process to amend it.


97 posted on 07/10/2018 10:20:40 AM PDT by fuzzylogic (welfare state = sharing of poor moral choices among everybody)
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To: tcrlaf
"It’s the only way to save democracy get what we want."
98 posted on 07/10/2018 10:25:10 AM PDT by kanawa (Trump Loves a Great Deal)
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To: Reno89519

“If Trump gets to name 7-9 justices, that would be court packing.”

No, that would be luck couple with his constructional preview.


99 posted on 07/10/2018 10:27:44 AM PDT by heights
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To: Arkansas Toothpick

We could also just remove their justices. That would result in a never ending judicial war in Congress. The court could also declare the war unconstitutional.


100 posted on 07/10/2018 10:28:56 AM PDT by CodeToad
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