Originally published at: Republicans Sound Like They’re Getting Nervous About Supreme Court Expansion - TPM – Talking Points Memo
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published at Balls and Strikes. On Thursday, House Judiciary Committee Republicans held a hearing to discuss, as they put it in the hearing’s official title, “a threat to the Supreme Court’s legitimacy.” The threat to which they referred, though, was not the Court’s myriad ethical scandals, or…
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I think one theory that is underrepresented is the idea that Trump is going to pack the court himself. He may reach the point of frustration where he nominates hardcore loyalists to him and him alone. And if the GOP Senate balks to confirm, he will just start ignoring court orders.
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Step number one is eliminating the filibuster. Step two is admitting D.C. and Puerto Rico as states. Step three is a comprehensive reform of the broken, corrupt, and partisan Court. Adding justices isn’t enough. Binding ethics rules, complete with enforceable criminal penalties, along with jurisdiction limits so they can no longer refuse to limit gerrymandering, allow bribery in elections, and destroy personal freedoms. And, lest I forget, ending criminal immunity for Trump and other crooked “presidents.”
Democrats need to stop being timid, weak, and afraid and call for all of these reforms.
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Trump is already doing both. His crooked lawyers in DOJ flout court decisions routinely and his second term judicial appointees are uniformly corrupt partisan hacks.
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God bless Herbert Block, one of my favorite political cartoonists.
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people who don’t like the Court’s interpretation of the Voting Rights Act should simply ask the Republican-controlled Congress to amend the statute.
Dear Republicans in Congress,
Please amend the statute so every American can vote.
Hello? Hello? Congress? Is anybody there?
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Ol’ Herblock was truly one of the giants of the art.
And a lot of his cartoons feel rather fresh, despite their age.
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Stunned that a Republican hearing allowed a Democratic witness to appear at all, and spout such treasonous, activist arguments.
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‘The GOP’s first witness, Missouri Solicitor General Louis Capozzi” - MIssouri …. ‘infamous’ for having a county named after Roger B. Taney.
The GOP would have had Justice Taney testify on ‘legitimacy of the court’ …. if he was still alive
Taney was Chief Justice for the Dred Scott decision.
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I’m sure John Roberts, Sam Alito, or the other 4 members of the MAGA 6 would suffice.
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How else are you gonna get material for the Two Minutes Hate?
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The hesitation about Court expansion is the retaliation factor. Say the Dems expand the Court to 13, which would be consistant with the 11 Regional Circuit Courts, the DC Circuit Court and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. A fairly reasonable response.
The fear is that if the R’s return to power they will further expand the Court to maintain their political advantage, endangering a tit-for-tat reponse. It is the same hesitation that prevents the D’s from killing the filibuster.
My personnel opinion is the D’s should call the R’s bluff. If they want a Judicial war the D’s should give them one and dare them to retaliate.
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“On its website, the Judiciary Committee promised during the hearing to “examine the history and perils of court packing,” as well as “other policy proposals that threaten to undermine the integrity of the judicial branch.””
… … … … … …
“Integrity”
SNICKER!!
It is to laugh. Integrity indeed.
6 of 9 are extreme right wingers. The Court is indeed packed.
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Once this expansion of the court idea starts picking up more mainsteam support, what’s to stop the Repubs from expanding the Court themselves and jamming in a bunch of nuts? Especially between the election and when the Dems take over in January…
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And under these conditions, Bowie explained, “regulating the Court is not just legitimate—it is Congress’s responsibility.”
On the other hand, since the GOP members of congress completely support what the court has done, they see no need for any “regulation”
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I have a simple idea for Court reform. It would include three elements. To wit:
(1) Require all Federal Justices to enter Senior Status at age 65 - the same as private corporate C-Suite rules in many Fortune 500 companies. No exceptions allowed. Once in Senior Status they can write opinions related to a case but their votes do not count on the SCOTUS or Appellate Courts.
(2) Make EVERY Appellate Court Judge a Justice on the SCOTUS - all 179 of them.
(3) Require 2/3rds of the Justices assigned to the SCOTUS to rotate onto one of the 13 Appellate Courts annually. No SCOTUS Justice may remain continuously on the SCOTUS for longer than three years, and once the annual rotation starts, no Justice shall return to the SCOTUS more than two times. All rotations will be governed by a joint session of the House and Senate Judiciary committees using a randomly drawn lottery at the end of each Court’s term in June for the Court rotations that commence in the following September of each year.
Easy-peasy ! No need to pack the Court - just eliminate these undemocratic Justice for Life customs in the SCOTUS which are established by Statute. There is nothing in the Constitution that mandates the Shitshow across from the Capitol Bldg we have today. NOTHING !
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Article III creates the (rather poorly defined) judicial system. It mentions only one officer: the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. (Almost everything else was left to Congress to define.) I like the idea of making the Associates ride the Circuits, but I think that the Chief Justice is Constitutionally fixed in the Court’s roster.
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Eventually, they’ll alight on the idea that they should just abuse every bit of power they have to add 4 to the SKKKOTUS themselves before 2028, making the court 10-3 with 4 more lunatic KKKristofascist FedSoc KKKlergy, and then dare us to do anything about it.
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The answer’s pretty easy. Add 8 more, revise the Judiciary Act to require senior status at age 65, and replace Balls’n’Strike, Lyin’ Sammy, and Uncle Thomas. Sotomayor and Kagan will have to go, too, but them’s the breaks. Kavadope has 4 years, and “You were mean to my Mommy” Gorsuch has 7.
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That may be right, but the Chief Justice is just one vote, and otherwise has largely administrative duties. Also, IF the Chief is subject to Senior Status at 65, there will be adequate rotation in this, the Chief Justice position, as well.
We should amend this proposal and send it to the Honorable Jamie Raskin for his review, comments and advocacy. The time to do something is NOW. Josh Marshall is absolutely right on this one. Almost NONE of the Trump 2 BS would have happened if we had an honest SCOTUS.
The situation we have now is known as a “Double Jabroni”, akin to when you are suffering because your BOSS is a tyrant or a moron, and HIS BOSS knows that he is a tyrant or a moron, but doesn’t care - particularly about where it puts YOU. That is life in the USA Today - sadly.