The part of me that doesn't want Biden to have an AG who will do for Dems what Barr does for the GOP is pretty much dead. The part of me that doesn't think Dems should nuke the filibuster is dead. Do it day one.

Pack the Arizona SC. Ten more judges. No, twenty. Kill blue slips and blockade the federal bench. Statehood for PR and DC, if they want it. Strip every GOP official in NC, KY, and WI of their powers, turn them into dog catchers, then impeach the dog catchers. Mint the coin.

But don't pack SCOTUS.

Let me explain, because I get this. Really I do. But political actors in a democracy need some shared sense of the possible, and since you can't legislate every gap in the law, we will always need norms. The trick is to make sure that they're just ones. https://twitter.com/yeselson/status/1312803800260972549?s=20

That's why, when the time inevitably comes to Own the Cons, Democrats should only break a norm under two conditions:

1) The GOP broke it first; or
2) Breaking it will expand democracy's reach.

Why only when the GOP broke it first? Because as @henryfarrell explains, the fastest way to reach a stable equilibrium is for both parties to escalate, instead of just one.

Also, revenge. https://crookedtimber.org/2020/09/19/the-supreme-court-and-normcore/

Why break them to expand democracy's reach? Because democracy is good and right now we don't have enough of it. Because Wolin is right and democracy is a fugitive. Moyn and Douthat are right too, and maybe it's time to break stuff. We need winners and losers.

All that said, why not pack SCOTUS? Believe me, I am fully awake to the threat a 6-3 conservative majority. But here's the thing: it could be worse. Things are really, really bad, but they could still get worse.

That's why I found this, from @qjurecic and @Susan_Hennessey, so implausible. Far more likely is that voters recoil at Dem court packing, Reps further consolidate their hold on the Senate, and we lose our ability to match GOP escalation.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/10/skeptic-case-court-packing/616607/

Believe me, I think court packing would be right and fitting. I just don't think voters will agree, and Dems can't risk being put in a position where they can't retaliate. Whereas most of the other stuff I mentioned can be justified politically on either democratic grounds...

...or because the GOP has it coming. And after four years of Trump, I think a lot of Americans are primed to believe that that GOP has it coming. We should capitalize on that sentiment while we can. We should make it hurt.

Conservatives of course will complain. As the one hundred and fifty-first justice gets confirmed to the Arizona Supreme Court, they will scream about bright lines and the dangers of democratic backsliding. I hope they do. I think I'd enjoy that.

So I'm all for Owning the Cons. But we should do it the right way and for the right reasons. Not to destroy democracy but to save it. And not for short term pleasure, but a long term victory.