The Intercept is reporting that some House and Senate Democrats are readying legislation to pack the Supreme Court, a move that just years ago Joe Biden said would only be undertaken by politicians “corrupted by power”:
BREAKING: Democrats planning legislation to expand the Supreme Court from 9 to 13 justices – @theintercept
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) April 15, 2021
Source confirms me tonight that House Judiciary chair Jerry Nadler and co-leads Hank Johnson and Mondaire Jones plan to unveil bill tomorrow that expands the Supreme Court to 13 — matching The Intercept.
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) April 15, 2021
NEWS: Democrats planning legislation to expand the Supreme Court from 9 to 13 justices, sponsored in the Senate by Ed Markey and in the House by Jerry Nadler, Mondaire Jones and Hank Johnson https://t.co/m6ExHWpGJR
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) April 14, 2021
Last week, President Biden signed an EO that he said would form a “bipartisan” commission to study expanding the Supreme Court, but obviously some Democrats don’t want to wait for that report.
George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley had some things to say about congressional Democrats reportedly readying legislation to pack the court:
The House and Senate Democrats are moving forward with a bill to add 4 new justices to the Supreme Court. There is nothing subtle or elegant in the move. Just a raw muscle play to take control of the Court… https://t.co/rVF26OYlst
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) April 14, 2021
If the report is true, they have decided not to wait for the Commission. A move to just add 4 new justices would dispense with even the pretense of principle. The bill will now strip away any semblance of constitutional values for members who do not denounce raw court packing.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) April 14, 2021
…The late Justice Ginsburg and most recently Justice Breyer condemned the court packing scheme and the public overwhelmingly opposes it. Yet, these members would reduce the court into little more than a partisan commission tasked with a political agenda.
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) April 14, 2021
Ultimately, this shows the cost of a failure of leadership in the Democratic party, including President Biden. Rather than denounce court packing, Biden played to the far left and called for a Commission to study something he called a "bone headed" and "terrible, terrible idea."
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) April 15, 2021
Also, wait for the media to provide some cover:
I can’t wait for all thousands of articles telling us how this is not ackshually court packing. https://t.co/T96wiiCi9a
— J.R. Holmsted (@JHolmsted) April 15, 2021
There are already a ton of comments from those who obviously don’t know the difference between court-packing and filling vacant seats.
That's because it's infrastructure. Duh.
— Kira (@RealKiraDavis) April 15, 2021
“Court-packing is infrastructure” sounds very on-brand for the Democrats these days.
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