May 15
The Only Way To Save The Supreme Court Is To Expand It
The U.S. Supreme Court is corrupt, and it could conceivably remain corrupt for decades unless something is done about it.
And that something has to be adding four new Democratic justices, even if it means wrecking every Senate norm in the book to do so.
The court can be considered corrupt for at least three reasons. One is the system for approving justices was corrupted by the Republicans in the Senate, giving the conservatives a 6–3 majority when, if procedure had been followed, the Democrats would have a 5–4 advantage.
Also, because multiple justices lied about their view of settled law in their confirmation hearings, and three of them were placed by an historically corrupt president who was elected with a minority of the votes with the help of Russia. The theory that corrupt leaders install corrupt people around them should be considered here.
If normal Senate procedure would have been followed, former President Barrack Obama would have been able to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia with his choice at the time, now-Attorney General Merrick Garland. Instead, Mitch McConnell and his pals wouldn’t even give Garland a hearing.
In turn, if normal Senate procedure would have been followed — here comes McConnell again — Republicans wouldn’t have rushed Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s approval in stunning speed before an election that saw Joe Biden become our president.
That would have flipped two seats from Republican to Democrat, thus the 5–4 Democratic advantage.
As a result of McConnell’s shady dealings, a ruling to eliminate the abortion protections provided by Roe v. Wade is pending, something opposed by the majority of Americans. That’s where the settled law issue comes in. And, trust me, this court isn’t going to stop with abortion.
To add insult to injury, McConnell has said that if an opening on the court comes up between now and the 2024 election and Republicans control the Senate, they probably won’t let Biden fill it. That’s the same thing some Republicans said in 2016, when they mused about not allowing any of Hillary Clinton’s choices on the court if she was elected president.
So, we have a corrupt court solely because of underhanded dealing by the Republicans, who seem ready to continue their corruption with any future openings. And we haven’t even talked about Justice Clarence Thomas and his insurrectionist wife, Ginni, who did everything she could to steal the 2020 election, meaning that while Thomas is charged with interpreting the Constitution, his wife was trying to throw it in the garbage.
What we’re seeing on our nation’s highest court is just the most visible of the GOP plan to stack all our federal courts with compliant Republican judges. These folks have one job to do, issue rulings that favor the Republican Party, the fanatical “Christians” in its base, and their rich and corporate donors.
This is how you perpetuate minority rule. The majority believes one way, the judges, who are beholding to the minority, vote the other. It’ll be interesting to see how that plays out in the coming years and what’s done about it.
Back to the Supreme Court, the only way to wash out the smell of corruption is for Democrats to expand the court and add those four justices. That will establish the balance that we’d would have naturally had.
Look, I’m as uncomfortable with court packing, but this is different. This isn’t a party overcoming a naturally occurring deficit, this is eliminating an advantage that exists only because of blatant cheating.
Yes, the Republicans will bitch and moan. And some Democrats will wet their bed over what the GOP will do once they regain power, but we can’t worry about that.
If Republicans want to counter by expanding the court to their advantage the first chance they get, well, that’s their prerogative. Democrats will just have to add their own justices when it’s their turn again.
I know, it sounds ridiculous, but I don’t care. It’s the only way to fix the damage the Republicans have done to the court. Democrats normally would back down on this, but this time they can’t.
Republicans have to understand that if we end up with 200 justices on the Supreme Court, so be it. Their cheating and the damage it’s going to do to our country can’t be allowed to happen. If Democrats can’t stand up for the integrity of our judicial system, then what the hell good are they.
Any Democrat with a backbone should welcome the chance to fight back against Republican corruption. Any Democrat who won’t expand the court is putting their own personal comfort ahead of what’s good for the country.
Bullies will push you as far as you let them. Cheaters will get away with whatever they can get away with.
And, as someone with four dogs can tell you, sometimes shit can’t be cleaned up without getting some of it on your own hands.
Thank you for reading my post. You can see more of my writings on my blog: “Musings of a Nobody.”
