I’m in the camp that the structure of the Supreme Court has long needed reforming, but more emphatically does so in light of the procedures by which the most recent three justices have taken the bench.
That is indeed a matter of opinion, but in this case I don’t think it matters. Even if Biden wanted to pack the court I don’t think he would have the means.
100% correct. He can’t even get basic protections for voting rights accomplished in the current legislative scheme, much less structural changes to the head of a co-equal branch of government.
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You and FDR. I think this has been tried before.
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It’s been expanded plenty of times. But unlike Biden, FDR had the political stroke and public will to make it an effective threat and accomplish his goal.
And lost.
You mean FDR lost? He didn’t get his substitute judge plan through, but it provoked the “switch in time saved nine” result that accomplished his ultimate goal. I haven’t read up on the history of that episode in a while. Definitely worth revisiting.
You need to read it.
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I tested negative.
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Terrific!
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The link between the packing threat and the shift in New Deal jurisprudence is generally overstated.
FWIW I’ve also come around to thinking the risks and rewards of court packing are way overblown. It wouldn’t come close to ending or saving the republic.
Well thanks to you and Jim I have some fun reading to do over the weekend.
Prior to the manner that Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett joined the bench, I thought the supreme court should be expanded and restructured to just be more efficient. Operate in panels but en banc for any reversal of existing or establishment of new precedent. It wasn’t to shake up the republic, but just to make the system work better. McConnell “packed” the court through questionable means, upsetting the apple cart and tarnishing the institution.
The main takeaway from the whole episode that a healthy democracy shouldn’t have been thrown in the lurch because one elderly woman died and one elderly man’s Machiavellian tactics. But we’ve all been disabused of any notion that we have a healthy democracy well beyond just the makeup of Supreme Court.
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Why?
I’m not a lawyer, but…
I have seen that SCOTUS settled on 9 justices because, at the time, there were 9 appeals court circuits. So, one justice for each circuit. There are now 13 circuits, so why not 13 justices?
Presidents do not get to pack the Court because they do not like its decisions. See FDR.
“Only since 1869 have there consistently been nine justices appointed to the Supreme Court. Before that, Congress routinely changed the number of justices to achieve its own partisan political goals, resulting in as few as five Supreme Court justices required by law under John Adams to as many as 10 under Abraham Lincoln.
The U.S. Constitution is silent about how many justices should sit on the Supreme Court. In fact, the office of Chief Justice only exists because it’s mentioned in the Constitution under Senate rules for impeachment proceedings (“When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside…”).
It’s Congress, not the Constitution, that decides the size of the Supreme Court, which it did for the first time under the Judiciary Act of 1789. When George Washington signed the Act into law, he set the number of Supreme Court justices at six.”
The number has been a political football since the beginning.
Nobody should be surprised when the filibuster disappears the next time the Republicans control the Senate. If the Democrats don’t do it now, their willingness to consider it will prod the fascists into action.
I’d predict a court-packing too, but they’ve already managed that, so there’s no reason to fire up the hoi polloi for that.
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The Dems cannot end the filibuster. They have two defectors.
I understand. But they’ve demonstrated a willingness to do so. So either they win a large enough majority to make Manchin and Sinema irrelevant (which would be sweet justice), or the Republicans gain a majority, line up behind Mitch, and nuke it themselves. That Manchin and Sinema don’t understand this (or maybe they do) baffles me.
100%. The minority has way more power than was ever envisioned or even thought about.
I have nearly as much chance of managing the 2022 Astros as this has of happening.