Some urge Democrats to expand the Supreme Court if they take power in 2021. Could they do that?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Democrats are furious over the push by President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans to move quickly on a Supreme Court nominee to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. They vowed to consider options for how they might respond if a confirmation vote is held before the presidential election Nov. 3.

Among the potential measures some advocated is the possibility of Democrats expanding the Supreme Court – an idea often referred to as court packing – if they win the White House and majorities in both houses of Congress. Supporters of such a move argue additional justices appointed during a Joe Biden administration would offset the conservative majority, which they said was unfairly established.

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said in a tweet that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., set the precedent that justices should not be confirmed in an election year when he denied Merrick Garland a vote in 2016.

Link to tweet

?s=20

Former Attorney General Eric Holder, who has advocated for expanding the court since Garland's blocked nomination, told MSNBC the conservative majority on the court is "illegitimate."

"If, in fact, they are successful in placing a justice on the court," Holder said, "we need to think about court reform. And at a minimum, as part of that reform package, I think additional justices need to be placed on the Supreme Court."

John Dean, who served as White House counsel under President Richard Nixon, argued it was Senate Republicans under McConnell who packed the federal judiciary with conservatives and Democrats should add judges and justices to "depoliticize" it.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/some-urge-democrats-to-expand-the-supreme-court-if-they-take-power-in-2021-could-they-do-that/ar-BB19gYzQ?li=BBnb7Kz

[beachbumbob]

1. to meet the throw down with no action only allows this crap to continue and for once, democrats

must take action on all levels of govt, if we are to learn anything, playing by the rules is a losing position

[dixiechiken1]

3. Absolutely right...

Especially when the "rules" only apply to Dems.

[Laelth]

2. Yes. We can.

If we control the WH, the House, and the Senate, and if we eliminate the filibuster (in its entirety), then yes. We could expand the number of justices on the SCOTUS, and we should. The SCOTUS is overloaded on cases, as it is. There aren’t enough justices to handle the caseload, and a court of 15, 17, 19, or 21 justices would DEPOLITICIZE the Court. Each new appointment would not be a make-or-break political emergency for either party. Expanding the Court would greatly stabilize the judicial branch of our government.

-Laelth

[Drunken Irishman]

4. It's a pipedream.

The Democrats are likely going to have a very small majority (if a majority at all) and I just don't see guys like Manchin or Tester or Cunningham supporting such a radical, potentially very unpopular, move.

[manicdem]

5. 50 member court?

As much as I'm tempted to pack the courts, I dread what will happen when the Repubs gain power in the future and pack their court. Things can go both ways.

[standingtall]

10. Democrats have the ace in the hole if their willing to engage

in all out procedural warfare. That being the U.S. territories where the demographics heavily favor democrats. You expand the court make every inhabited U.S. territory a State and it's game set match.

[W_HAMILTON]

11. Would you prefer to lose the courts for a generation or longer?

And Republicans have already essentially packed the courts through their underhanded tactics. The Democrats would just be returning the favor.

[former9thward]

6. The last president who tried to pack the court suffered enourmous blowback.

FDR. In the next election (1938) after the failed attempt Democrats' lost 72 seats in the House and 7 in the Senate. FDR's domestic agenda was halted for the rest of the time he was president by a coalition of Republicans and southern Democrats. In fact, it was halted until the Great Society of the 1960s.

[W_HAMILTON]

12. FDR wanted to pack the courts, but many Democrats in the Senate did not.

FDR went on to win re-election twice after 1938 and who knows how many more he would have won had he not died in office.

[In It to Win It]

7. We can do that if we take power but I think it's unlikely

I don’t think we’ll enough support within our own ranks to make that happen

[standingtall]

8. If Democrats win the Presidency and take the Senate

and either wont or can't add seats to the court. Then they might as well just pack it up go home. They got to fight for their voters with more than just platitudes, but meaningful action. republicans are assholes is not enough to win elections. Democrats actually have to do something about republicans being assholes.

[Sogo]

9. This.