Posted on 04/15/2021 5:54:57 AM PDT by Red Badger
The Constitution allows Congress to set the number of Supreme Court justices.
CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS PLAN to unveil legislation expanding the size of the Supreme Court on Thursday, according to three congressional sources familiar with the closely held measure.
The bill would add four seats to the high court, bringing the total to 13 from the current nine. The bill is led by House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler, subcommittee Chair Hank Johnson, and first-term Rep. Mondaire Jones. In the Senate, the bill is being championed by Ed Markey of Massachusetts.
The number of justices on the court, which is set by Congress, has fluctuated throughout the course of the nation’s history, reaching as many as 10 seats before settling on nine in 1869. In 2016, Sen. Ted Cruz suggested that if Hillary Clinton were elected, the Republican Senate should keep Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat empty, effectively bringing the number of justices down to eight.
Republicans currently hold six seats, while Democrats hold just three. Republicans were able to solidify control of the court under former President Donald Trump, after first refusing to advance Merrick Garland’s nomination under former President Barack Obama and then confirming Justice Neil Gorsuch after Trump’s election. Then after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died last September, Republicans threw out the procedures they had previously embraced and confirmed Justice Amy Coney Barrett in a matter of weeks.
After Trump’s nomination of Coney Barrett, then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer faced pressure to stop her confirmation by any means necessary. When those myriad options fell short and Coney Barrett was pushed through, the conversation turned to expanding the court.
“Not only do these extremist judges threaten more than a century of progressive achievements,” read a letter to Schumer by 20 New York elected officials, “they threaten to foreclose the possibility of any future progress under a Democratic administration.”
But after Democrats lost races they hoped to win in Maine, North Carolina, and Iowa, some Democratic strategists argued that the talk of court packing and ending the filibuster had inspired more Republicans to vote, and discussion of the move was shelved.
In April, President Joe Biden created a commission to study possible reforms to the court, including adding seats. This past October, Biden promised to create such a commission if elected, saying the judicial system was “getting out of whack,” but said, “It’s not about court packing.”
Drastic change.
They know they have a very limited time to pull of a complete coup for total power. If something like this doesn’t happen I’ll be shocked.
*IF* the Reps ever get congress/president again, it’ll be a ping pong effect with an endlessly growing court.
There’s always a threat from the left over total takeover, from guns to stuff like this.
BS
The SCOTUS can SHRINK as well. It has happened before...................
The article is asinine as written with garbage opinions and lied. Besides that,we shall see about the main point of packing the court. Congress loves committees and commissions. They want two new states and four more justices. That’s very ambitious. Add that to a election system federized and it’s over.
Well the dems are that stupid. Next elexshun we be reducing it to three.
They can only advance the idea if all 50 Democratic Senators agree. I would doubt that they can muster the 50...to get VP Harris in for the tie-breaking vote.
This whole thing is toxic with implications that resonate for the next five years. 2024 might arrive and Trump returns to business on day one to add six justices on top of the Biden added.
There needs to be some Constitutional reform done, otherwise, in a decade...we’d have around thirty justices.
Welcome to the Soviet Union.
I’m surprised Hank Johnson is supporting this, Those extra judges may tip the Supreme Court over and damage the building.
Election theft/fraud is firmly in place, proven this past November. What makes you think it will not be in play in 2024?
Why isn’t Hank Johnson concerned that 4 more judges will make the court tip over?
“ Republicans threw out the procedures they had previously embraced...”
Lie.
Since the democrats are angling for full power one wonders when the train will arrive
We only have two kinds of Justice seats, now. (Witness the useless ACB being seated in the special vjj-seat.)
We’re going to need 30 seats to accommodate all of the different “races” and “genders” that the Court should have.
It’s going to look like the Westminster Dog Show with robes.
Exactly right. The Republicans agreed that a justice should be nominated if the party of the nominee controls the Senate. When Obama tried to appoint Garland (after murdering Scalia) the Rats did not control the senate. The article conveniently leaves this part out.
It’s clear to me they’re setting us up for maximum chaos. That’s why the lockdown and Covid hysteria is still going on. That’s why BLM/ANTIFA is still organizing to riot in our cities, and are not even going to the suburbs to setup false flag incidents to attack normal people in their home. And also why the Democrats are going gung ho with packing the Supreme Court, letting in millions of illegals, and going after guns.
The question is: what’s the purpose of the chaos? Could be incoming war with the Russians and Chinese, as JR Nyquist thinks. Could be attempting to provoke civil war in the United States, or “right wing terror attacks,” to justify more tolatarian action. Or it could be both.
Democrats have found their cure. Now, the court reform commission can find the problem.
Revolution is in the Air by Samuel Francis
https://counter-currents.com/2018/06/revolution-is-in-the-air/
“The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labour. War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent.”
― George Orwell, 1984
“...the object of waging a war is always to be in a better position in which to wage another war.”
― George Orwell, 1984
“The war, therefore if we judge it by the standards of previous wars, is merely an imposture. It is like the battles between certain ruminant animals whose horns are incapable of hurting one another. But though it is unreal it is not meaningless. It eats up the surplus of consumable goods, and it helps to preserve the special mental atmosphere that the hierarchical society needs. War, it will be seen, is now a purely internal affair. In the past, the ruling groups of all countries, although they might recognize their common interest and therefore limit the destructiveness of war, did fight against one another, and the victor always plundered the vanquished. In our own day they are not fighting against one another at all. The war is waged by each ruling group against its own subjects, and the object of the war is not to make or prevent conquests of territory, but to keep the structure of society intact. The very word “war,” therefore, has become misleading. It would probably be accurate to say that by becoming continuous war has ceased to exist. The peculiar pressure that is exerted on human beings between the Neolithic Age and the early twentieth century has disappeared and has been replaced by something quite different. The effect would be much the same if the three superstates, instead of fighting one another, should agree to live in perpetual peace, each inviolate within its own boundaries. For in that case each would still be a self-contained universe, freed forever from the sobering influence of external danger. A peace that was truly permanent would be the same as a permanent war. This—although the vast majority of Party members understand it only in a shallower sense—is the inner meaning of the Party slogan: WAR IS PEACE.”
― George Orwell, 1984
“...the consciousness of being at war, and therefore in danger, makes the handing-over of all power to a small caste seem the natural, unavoidable condition of survival.”
― George Orwell, 1984
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.