Tipsheet

Warnings About Packing the Court Are Coming from All Over

After the U.S. Supreme Court last week allowed a Texas abortion law to go into effect, hysteria from the Left has led to renewed calls to pack the Supreme Court.

Squad member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) called for packing the Court and abolishing the filibuster, just a few of her ranting and rambling reactions against the law which bans most abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, at around six weeks. 

AOC is hardly the only one, though. House and Senate Democrats renewed their calls from April, when they introduced the Judiciary Act, a legislative scheme meant to pack the Court.

As he did in April when the legislation was introduced, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who is the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, spoke to Townhall to express his concerns.

While this time the specific reason given for the hysteria involved to pack the Court is because of the Texas abortion law, Rep. Jordan reminded that "Democrats are looking for any excuse to pack the Court" and that "the hard left wants to pack the Court no matter what." 

President Joe Biden, the congressman offered, is likely to wait until the commission he put together about the Supreme Court comes back with such a recommendation. It's Rep. Jordan's view that it "was set up so that the commission would come back and recommend that they expand the Court," which would be the reason used, which Jordan emphasizes is "what they've always wanted to do."

If one were to think that such warnings came only from Republican lawmakers, they'd be wrong. 

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer spoke with NPR's  Nina Totenberg, during an interview which addressed whether or not he would retire, as I wrote about in a VIP article of mine. He also issued a warning when it comes to as, what NPR calls, "remaking the court."

As Breyer told Totenberg, "what goes around comes around. And if the Democrats can do it, the Republicans can do it."

Justice Breyer has spoken out about court packing before. Earlier this year, as Reagan reported, the justice again warned against it. During a Harvard Law speech he gave on April 6, Breyer said to "think long and hard" about the idea, pointing out that the Court's authority depends on "a trust that the court is guided by legal principle, not politics." 

Rep. Jordan, did not only not shy away from sharing his concerns about how dangerous such legislation is, in that "it's bad policy, it's bad for the country, and bad for the Constitution," he believes Democrats "are likely to try to move ahead with it."

Such a transformation that Democrats seek for the country is thus one more reason the GOP feels emboldened for 2022. Rep. Jordan certainly thinks his party will take back the House "in a big way."