They finally did it. Democrats in the House and the Senate have introduced legislation to pack the Court. As Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) shared with Townhall last night, the country is safe from this radical power grab, if we keep the filibuster. If Democrats can change that too, then we may not be so sure. Besides, can we really ever be so sure, considering what the Democratic Party has become? It's not just Democratic politicians though. Some of the most crusaders most hellbent on changing the Court are organizations.
On Thursday, Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) and Reps. Jerry Nadler and Mondaire Jones, both Democrats from New York, as well as Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) held a press conference outside the U.S. Supreme Court, the very institution they seek to destroy. Meagan Hatcher-Mays, the Director of Democracy Policy at Indivisible, was the first from a supporting organization to speak at the podium.
She shared she is also the founder of the ironically named Unrig the Court coalition, "dedicated to restoring balance to the courts." Meanwhile, she's doing the rigging. "The Supreme Court derives its legitimacy from the trust we all put into it and that trust has been eroded, thanks to a decades-long assault on our judiciary in general and the Supreme Court in general," which she blamed in part on "Republican enablers in Congress." Like too many who have that platform she does, she doesn't have any regard for presidential powers, specifically in nominating judges to be confirmed by the Senate. And it's just fine to override checks and balances which have been existence since our founding, because Orange Man Bad. "Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump have pushed our democracy to the cliff's edge, and the conservatives on the Supreme Court are ready to finish the job, and push it right over that cliff," she shared before endorsing the legislation.
She, and the organization, are just as vocal about her delusional rantings over Twitter, and have been for some time.
We're proud to join @RepHankJohnson @RepJerryNadler @RepMondaire & @SenMarkey in their call to #ExpandTheCourt. If we don’t, the 6-3 radical right-wing SCOTUS majority will keep blocking progress on the most pressing issues we face, from our climate crisis to restoring democracy. pic.twitter.com/z3PfmbTERC
— Indivisible Guide (@IndivisibleTeam) April 15, 2021
holding a seat open for a year just to fill it with a guy with ties to conservative dark $ groups; confirming Kavanaugh, a serial abuser; installing Barrett 8 days before an election after millions voted? not exactly the behavior of a party interested in the integrity of SCOTUS https://t.co/jCE9bKbXSV
— ???????????? ??????????????-???????? (@importantmeagan) April 15, 2021
Republican ideas are deeply unpopular so they want unelected judges to do their dirty work for them. Trump got basically nothing done legislatively, but he did get 200+ judges, including 3 Supreme Court justices, who will impose Trumpism from the bench when it fails in Congress.
— ???????????? ??????????????-???????? (@importantmeagan) April 15, 2021
Conservatives have spent 40 years corrupting our courts, mostly behind the scenes, and now they’re crying foul because we noticed. We deserve a judiciary that we can trust. We can fix this, but we gotta go big. That means adding seats to the SCOTUS. Thank you @RepMondaire! https://t.co/jDImIJjeZd
— ???????????? ??????????????-???????? (@importantmeagan) April 15, 2021
Hatcher-Mays has also spoken numerous times in favor of DC statehood. She's also spoken about ending the filibuster, which is not surprising, considering that's the only way in which this legislation has a chance of passing.
Next up was Chris Kang, the co-founder and chief counsel of Defend Justice. He claimed that a 6-3 conservative majority constituted "an existential crises demand existential solutions." He also emphasized that "no one can argue that a 6-3 ultra conservative, Republican super majority, is a balanced Court... Our very democracy hangs in the balance of this fundamentally unbalanced Supreme Court." We really need to say it louder for the people in the back that "a balanced court" is not the point. In Kang's commitment to seeking support for the legislation, offered that they "we have momentum and a movement on our side."
In case you had any doubt, Kang clarified that his organization is also all for destroying the filibuster. "We only have to look at the trajectory of the debate over filibuster reform to see how quickly and how necessary this conversation also will be... we need to not only eliminate the filibuster to pass democracy reform, and to pass voting rights, but we need to pass Supreme Court reform, so that those fundamental improvements to our democracy stand the test of time."
Court reform can't Wait Wait. Add four seats now. https://t.co/R26bPumoOz
— Demand Justice (@WeDemandJustice) April 16, 2021
.@RepMondaire, @RepJerryNadler, @RepHankJohnson, and @SenMarkey have a plan for that.https://t.co/9X3NzygyF9
— Demand Justice (@WeDemandJustice) April 16, 2021
NEWS: @RepMondaire, @RepHankJohnson, @SenMarkey, and @RepJerryNadler will introduce a bill to add four seats to the Supreme Court.
— Demand Justice (@WeDemandJustice) April 15, 2021
Here's what you need to know about why we need to add four seats to save our democracy. pic.twitter.com/km31FY70I1
Professor Aaron Belkin, the founder and director of Take Back the Court also spoke. He too focused on his democracy, or his version of it. He shared he founded the organization "to urge anyone who would listen to focus on the threat of the Court, and the only path to restoring democracy, the only way to prevent the people in this building from blocking black and brown Americans from voting, was to expanding the Court." Why does he believe they'll win the fight, like he did with repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell and barring transgender military members? "Because we have to." In a particularly insane warning, he mentioned if Democrats don't add four more seats to the Court, then "January 6 is going to be our future, and it's going to be the tip of the iceberg of our future."
.@MondaireJones = American hero https://t.co/aAF4Fs8y3t
— Aaron Belkin (@AaronBelkin) April 15, 2021
"[If] the Supreme Court is made up of Republican-appointed justices who won’t address voting laws because they see themselves as on 'Team Republican,' that’s a big problem and must be addressed." @perrybaconjr https://t.co/GyuM9hrkH4
— Aaron Belkin (@AaronBelkin) April 14, 2021
My TBTC colleague .@jamisonfoser explains why Breyer's concerns about court expansion are so problematic. https://t.co/qfYMCwFLIh
— Aaron Belkin (@AaronBelkin) April 14, 2021
A press release from the bill's sponsors also references additional supporting organizations, including Alliance for Justice, Free Speech for People, Center for Popular Democracy Action, Freedom From Religion Foundation, and the People's Parity Projects.
If these people want to "reform" the Court, make sure to elect a president who will nominate and senators who will vote to confirm judges and justices to their liking. Elections have consequences. It really should not a difficult concept.
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