Senator Al Franken slams supreme court in pro-Sotomayor statement

[mucifer]

This is a really great little 4 minute video Senator Franken discusses the backwards direction of the current supreme court:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_drX9UcSvo

[goclark]

1. Get Um Al ~ Fantastic!

[Dinger]

2. Al, Telling It It Is. K & R!

Wish there were more like him.

[rurallib]

3. Holy Smoke! Great job Senator Franken.

So strange to hear someone stand up to the bullies.

[prostomulgus]

4. We need to force some of the RW'ers on the court to retire.

Disclose an affair, find a tax problem, uncover an undocumented domestic worker, find some pot in a kid's car. Whatever! Just get one or more of the RW'ers off the court ASAP. We need control of that court NOW!

[dorkulon]

5. Obama could just add more seats.

It's been done before.

[Mister Ed]

17. A president can arbitrarily add more seats? I don't believe that's true.

I know that FDR tried, and failed. Has there really been a point in U.S. history when a president has added more seats to the Supreme Court?

[csziggy]

18. The Constitution does not say how many are to be on the Supreme Court

The United States Constitution does not specify the size of the Supreme Court. Article III of the Constitution gives Congress the power to fix the number of Justices. The Judiciary Act of 1789 called for the appointment of six Justices. As the country grew geographically, Congress increased the number of Justices to correspond with the growing number of judicial circuits: the court was expanded to seven members in 1807, nine in 1837 and ten in 1863.

At the request of Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, Congress passed the Judicial Circuits Act (1866) which provided that the next three Justices to retire would not be replaced; thus, the size of the Court would eventually reach seven by attrition. Consequently, one seat was removed in 1866 and a second in 1867. However, this law did not play out to its fruition, for in the Judiciary Act of 1869,<7> also known as the Circuit Judges Act, the number of Justices was again set at nine, where it has since remained.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt attempted to expand the Court in 1937; his plan would have allowed the President to appoint one additional Justice for each existing Justice who reached the age of 70 years 6 months but did not retire from the bench, until the Court reached a maximum size of fifteen justices. Ostensibly, the proposal was made to ease the burdens of the docket on the elderly judges, but the President's actual purpose was to add Justices who would favor his New Deal policies, which had been regularly ruled unconstitutional by the Court.<8> This plan, usually called the "Court-packing Plan," failed in Congress. The Court, however, gradually acquiesced to Roosevelt's New Deal programs and thereby removed the President's need to alter it. Within six years eight of the nine justices either retired or died, allowing Roosevelt to appoint eight Justices total to the Supreme Court (second only to George Washington) and to promote one Associate Justice to Chief Justice.<9>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States#Size_of_the_Court

[dorkulon]

19. My bad-- not the Pres, but Congress can.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/26/opinion/26smith.html

[madokie]

6. I'll say it early and I say it loud

Senator Al Franken is going to be one hell of a good Senator for the average Jane and Joe's. What's good for Jane and Joe is good for our country and that's a fact

[Catshrink]

7. Nicely done..very succinct description of judicial activism by the SC

Of course, the Sessions', Grassley's, etc. only call it judicial activism if it's not in favor of corporations or people like them.

[Demoiselle]

8. Yes, indeed, Al. Wonderfully succinct and perfectly accurate. RAH! nt

[CrownPrinceBandar]

9. Great statement by Senator Franken.....

I still can't believe I used to watch this guy on SNL. Thumbs up Mr. Senator!!!!!!!!!

[Voice for Peace]

10. A truth-teller in congress, and a bold one

may very well help get a fire lit under the slowbutts and lamebutts

[JBoy]

11. Solid. I expect to see some great things from Sen. Franken.

[Douglas Carpenter]

12. excellent!! kick and recommended!!

[followthemoney]

13. Wow! A Democrat with more guts than excuses!

I didn't think that type was allowed anymore!

[mucifer]

14. There are some great speeches in congress by progressive dems. You can see them on

cspan. But, if the news won't cover it, it's like it never happened. Makes me so angry. :mad:

Maybe they will be more likely to show some fiery Franken speeches because he's a celebrity, but I doubt it.

[followthemoney]

15. Thanks, mucifer. nt

[Cybergata]

16. Thank you Minnesota for giving us Senator Franken n/t