Democrats kick off push to pack Supreme Court with four new justices

The big question in my mind is: Would this require a Constitutional Amendment? If not then the next President and Congress can change it with a simple vote.

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 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.

Meagan Hatcher Mays, director of democracy policy at the liberal group Indivisible, said Republicans broke the trust that Americans have in the court.

She blamed McConnell for undoing Senate norms to ram through GOP-backed judges who are more loyal to "conservative political outcomes" than to the constitution. She said McConnell "bent over backwards" to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who is "hideously unqualified to serve on the bench."

"We are here because Mitch McConnell overplayed his hand," said Mays, a founder of the Unrig the Courts coalition. "He and Donald Trump got greedy and the American people noticed."

LIBERALS RAMP UP CALLS FOR SUPREME COURT JUSTICE BREYER TO RETIRE AFTER HE PANNED COURT PACKING SPEECH

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 nine to 13 with time.

"Today begins a new era in terms of the Supreme Court," Johnson said. "It's been taken for granted for so long that the court has to be nine people ... There simply is no need to continue with a nine- person court given the circumstances that have been expressed."

Jones, a freshman lawmaker from New York's Westchester County, said the Supreme Court's decisions on campaign finance, gutting voting rights and partisan gerrymandering show the John Roberts-led court "is hostile to democracy itself."

Jones said the Supreme Court has been "an accomplice" to voter suppression and creating a path for the "far-right to remain in power". He said expanding the court is the remedy.

"Our democracy faces its greatest test since Jim Crow," Jones said. "From the insurrection at the Capitol, to the racist voter suppression being attempted all throughout the United States of America, the far-right is at war with our democracy."

Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y., speaks before the Supreme Court on April 15, 2021, on his legislation to expand the Supreme Court.
Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y., speaks before the Supreme Court on April 15, 2021, on his legislation to expand the Supreme Court.

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 that 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."


CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

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.