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A good friend of mine that I’d categorize as an Independent asked me about “Democrats packing the court.”
This was my response. Let me know what you think.
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This was my response. Let me know what you think.
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Here’s the deal: the Democrats feel cheated out of a SC Justice seat since Obama nominated Merrick Garland with 11 months left in his term. Because the GOP controlled the senate they refused to hold a hearing, saying that...
no president should be allowed to seat a Supreme Court Justice in his last year. Lindsey Graham was especially outspoken about this. Now the Republicans want to seat a SC Justice during an election (people are already voting)...
, so Democrats are crying “ foul” and pointing out Republican hypocrisy. Now if the Republicans are able to seat Amy Comey Barrett (and it looks like they will be able to) the Supreme Court they will not just have a conservative majority; it’ll have a conservative super majority.
Some people point out that the Supreme Court doesn’t represent the people now. I see that side of the argument. Ideally SC justices should be non partisan and simply interpret the constitution.
But of course that’s not real life. Folks’ background, religious beliefs, etc, influence their decisions. So politicians want justices they think will rule in favor of their legislation.
So we now have a system where every time a justice dies or retires, there’s major political upheaval and big fights. I don’t believe that’s good for democracy.
Pete Buttigieg suggested a new system he proposed a Supreme Court of 15 justices. He suggested 10 justices divided equally between those “affiliated with” one or the other of two major parties; those 10 would select five more.
I don’t know how workable that is, but it would sure solve a lot of the current problems. Even if we just had ten justices selected by whoever is the current president, and 5 selected by the current justices, things would be a lot better, imo.
The death or retirement of one single person wouldn’t send the whole system into a tailspin.
Now the Republicans consider adding to the number of justices as “packing the court”. But remember, they’re about to have a conservative super majority. So they like the way things are going. There is talk about overturning Roe v Wade and...
other rulings that would allow LGBTQ discrimination under the guise of religious liberty. But really they’re likely more afraid of anti-gerrymandering laws and anti-voter suppression laws. So this is really their last defense against losing seats in Congress.
Anyhow, personally speaking, I hope the Democrats increase the number of Supreme Court Justices to 15 and codify it (I.e. make it law.) I think that would be a move in the right direction for equal representation and democracy.
