Democrats to unveil proposed hostile takeover of Supreme Court, to allow 'packing' with liberal justices
By Brittany De Lea | Fox News
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Several House Democrats are set to unveil legislation Thursday to expand the number of justices on the Supreme Court.
Supporters of the proposal plan to hold a news conference on the steps of the Supreme Court building. They include U.S. Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and U.S. Reps. Jerry Nadler and Mondaire Jones, both of New York, and Hank Johnson of Georgia.
Given Democrats' control of the White House and Senate, the legislation could allow the party to supersede the court's current conservative majority by "packing" the Court with liberal justices.
Some Republicans quickly derided the proposal.
"Does expanding the Supreme Court count as infrastructure too?" Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, wrote on Twitter.
Jones responded simply: "Yes," with a heart emoji.
"Imagine if we reduced the number from nine to five and just kept the Republicans. You guys would go crazy," Jordan added, according to the Washington Times.
Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., also criticized the court plan in a proposed amendment for a bill addressing possible reparations for African-Americans, the outlet reported.
"The idea of packing the Supreme Court is so dangerous, we have to address it now," Johnson wrote.
Spokespeople for the Democratic backers of the proposal did not respond Wednesday night to Fox News’ requests for further details.
The legislation will propose expanding the court to 13 justices, from nine, The Intercept reported Wednesday.
The Supreme Court has had nine justices since the 19th century, though the number of justices is not specified in the Constitution.
Earlier this year, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, introduced legislation calling for a constitutional amendment to preserve the current number of sitting justices, as well as provisions prohibiting Congress from passing legislation to expand the number.
Cruz previously introduced his plan last October, as some Democrats indicated an openness to expanding the size of the high court following the Sept. 18 death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
The court vacancy created by Ginsburg's death was ultimately filled by Amy Coney Barrett, who became then-President Trump’s third appointment to the Supreme Court.
Barrett was expected to tilt the ideological power balance of the court in favor of conservatives, 6 to 3 -- although Chief Justice John Roberts and Trump-appointed justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch have at times sided with the court's liberals.
Democrats often attribute part of the shift in the court to the fact that then-Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., refused to consider Merrick Garland – nominated by President Barack Obama in 2016 – to fill a vacant seat during an election year. That seat, belonging to Antonin Scalia, eventually went to Gorsuch.
Following the Garland situation, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said "every option" needed to be on the table to restore credibility and integrity to the Supreme Court.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., in October tweeted, "expand the court."
President Biden has previously opposed the idea of court-packing. However, he said in the fall that he intended to set up a bipartisan commission to study Supreme Court reforms.
This week, Biden signed an executive order forming the "Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States" to analyze the merits of proposed reforms.
Democrats kick off push to pack Supreme Court with four new justices
By Marisa Schultz | Fox News
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A group of Democrats Thursday formally launched a legislative effort to pack the Supreme Court by adding four new justices, in a move that was hailed by progressive activists but quickly met with fierce GOP opposition and skepticism by Democratic leadership.
Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., along with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and Judiciary Committee members Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y., and Hank Johnson, D-Ga., stood outside the Supreme Court Thursday to announce their new legislation to expand the high court from 9 to 13 justices.
They said the far-right has hijacked the court thanks to "norm-breaking" moves by Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and expanding the number of justices is necessary to restore balance and integrity to the highest court in America.
Jones, a freshman lawmaker from New York's Westchester County, said the Supreme Court's latest decisions on campaign finance, voting rights and partisan gerrymandering show the "court has been hostile to democracy itself."'
"Our democracy is hanging by a thread. And the far-right majority on the U.S. Supreme Court is cutting it," Jones said in a statement. "... The American people have had enough. To restore power to the people, we must expand the Supreme Court."
The Judiciary Act of 2021 is just a two-page bill that would increase the number of justices on the court from 9 to 13, setting up an immediate opportunity for President Biden to nominate four new justices to be confirmed in the Democratic-led Senate.
The legislation has long-odds of passing Congress because unless Democrats abolish the filibuster, it would require 60 votes for passage in the Senate.
But Markey said it's time to abolish the filibuster in order to pass the legislation to pack the court.
"Republicans stole the Court’s majority, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation completing their crime spree," Markey said in a statement. "Of all the damage Donald Trump did to our Constitution, this stands as one of his greatest travesties. Senate Republicans have politicized the Supreme Court, undermined its legitimacy, and threatened the rights of millions of Americans, especially people of color, women, and our immigrant communities."
Biden himself has been cool to court-packing and has only endorsed setting up a 36-member bipartisan commission to study court reforms.
Republicans immediately condemned the proposal as a delusional progressive attempt to nuke the Supreme Court.
McConnell, who conservatives credit for reforming the court by preventing a vote on President Obama's Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland and then changing Senate voting thresholds to confirm three of President Trump's nominees, immediately panned the court-packing proposal. He said the move is designed to "guarantee the rulings that liberals want" and would "destroy" the legitimacy of the court.
Progressives, however, said with Democrats in control of the House, Senate and White House now is the time to balance out the court, which currently has a 6-3 conservative majority.
"Democrats are officially done being complacent about the courts," Brian Fallon, executive director of Demand Justice, a liberal group pushing for court reforms. "Our goal is to build consensus for this plan as quickly as we have seen Democrats align around the need to abolish the Senate filibuster. Expanding the Court is every bit as necessary for restoring our democracy."
The constitution doesn't mandate the number of justices be set at nine. The number is set by Congress and it can be changed without a constitutional amendment.
The Supreme Court's website notes the number of justices changed six times before settling at the current total of nine in 1869.
Democrats said the number of 13 is timely because it reflects how the number of appellate courts in America has grown from 9 to 13 with time.
"Thirteen justices for thirteen circuits is a sensible progression," Nadler said in a statement.
In addition to Biden, other Democrats are cool to the plan of court-packing. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., chair of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee which has jurisdiction of the courts, said he's not ready to endorse the bill.
"I just heard about it," Durbin said. "I'm not ready to sign on yet. I think this commission of Biden's is the right move. Let's think this through carefully. This is historic."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Thursday she also supports Biden's commission to study reforms and doesn't plan to advance the court-packing legislation to a full House vote.
"I have no plans to bring it to the floor," Pelosi said.
