THE GROWING THREAT OF SUPREME COURT PACKING
WHY A PACKED SUPREME COURT IS MORE LIKELY THAN EVER
Right now, there is a very high probability that liberals and progressives will enact a law expand the size of the Supreme Court the next time they control Washington.
More than 60 liberals and progressives in Congress have supported legislative proposals to increase the number of Supreme Court Justices. Not a single liberal or progressive now in Congress, even those that today disclaim interest in Court expansion, has so far been willing to support a measure to permanently prohibit Congress from manipulating the size of the Court in the future.
The strategy of liberals and progressives who want to expand the size of the Court as soon as they win control of Congress and the White House is, when they eventually win enough votes, probably to create a voting rights exception to the Senate filibuster, then by majority vote to admit parts of Washington D.C. as a new state with two new votes in the Senate, and then to use use their expanded Senate majority to pass a law increasing the number of Supreme Court Justices.
49 Senators have already voted or pledged to create a voting rights exception to the filibuster.
Liberals and progressives need just one more Senate vote, plus a VP tiebreaker to have the majority to create this “exception.”
House Democrats, when in the majority on the 117th Congress, passed a measure that would create a new state out of portions of the current District of Columbia that would be entitled to two new votes in the U.S. Senate.
Major liberal and progressive groups including the National Education Association (the nations largest teachers union) Planned Parenthood, and NAARL/Pro-Choice America have recently announced their support for expanding the size of the Supreme Court.
Other liberal and progressive interest groups that support:
increased gun regulation
increased protections for gay, lesbian and transgender rights
allowing teachers unions to collect dues from non-members
limiting the rights of parents to choose schools for their children
the restoration of laws creating racial preferences for school admissions
increased environmental, energy, and land use regulation
the imposition of a wealth or an unrealized income tax
the invalidation of voter identification requirements and other measures intended to prevent voter fraud
ensuring that a national popular vote plan to elect presidents by popular vote, survives a Court challenge
imposing national standards that would invalidate state redistricting and other voting and vote counting laws...
all need a new progressive Supreme Court majority that could be created by expanding the number of Justices.
These groups could create nearly irresistible pressure on liberals and progressives in Congress expand the size of the Court the next time liberals and progressives control Washington.
Liberals and progressive are almost certain to win control of Washington sometime in the next 5-10 elections.
If one party expands the size of the Court for its own advantage, another party is very likely to retaliate by expanding the Court again for its advantage, reducing the Court’s independence from the party in power and making it less less likely that the Court would challenge acts of a President or Congress that some believed were abuses of power.
There is such a proposed law called the Judiciary Act of 2023 that would increase the number of Supreme Court Justices.
Only a Constitutional Amendment can take away the power of Congress to alter the size of the Supreme Court.
Unless such an Amendment is enacted before liberals and progressives next win a trifecta majority in Washington there is a very high likelihood that a hard-to-stop cycle of Court expansion will fundamentally alter the role of the Supreme Court as an independent branch of government.
There is such an Amendment, called the “Keep Nine” Amendment, which has been supported by more than 200 Members of Congress and 800 elected state leaders which states in just 13 words: “The Supreme Court of the United States shall be composed of nine Justices.”
Enacting Amendments to the U.S. Constitution is difficult, but the success of popular Amendments like those that gave women and 18 year old the right to vote, that enacted and repealed prohibition, and that imposed presidential term limits shows that Amendments are possible when there is overwhelming popular support.
Polling shows that voters would support the Keep Nine Amendment by a more than 2-1 margin.
The polling shows that strong majorities of Republicans and independents would support such an Amendment, and also that significantly more Democrats would support than oppose it.
An elected official who says they are opposed to expanding the size of the court might have a difficult time explaining why they did not support a measure, first introduced in Congress by a Democrat, that would ensure neither party could alter the size of the Supreme Court.
If resources are available the public can be educated about:
• the likelihood of Court packing,
• the impact of Court packing on issues people care about
• the significance of the “Judiciary Acr” that would expand the number of Justices and the “Keep Nine” Amendment that would end the threat of court packing by preserving the current number of Justices.
• the importance of finding out where elected officials stand on Court packing, the "Judiciary Act," and the “Keep Nine” Amendment,
• and what elected officials have actually said about Court packing, the “Judiciary Act” and the “Keep Nine” Amendment.
There is a race now underway in American politics. Who will win?
Will those who want to expand the size of the Supreme Court win control of Congress before those who want to preserve the current number of nine Justices enact an Amendment that takes away the power of Congress to alter the size of the Court?
The winner will shape America for generations to come.
WE MUST EDUCATE AMERICA...
What the end of an independent Supreme Court would mean to America's future.
How the end of an independent Supreme Court could personally affect the lives of every American
Why politicians manipulating the size of the Supreme Court now would end the Court's independence.
Why the likelihood of a packed Supreme Court whose size is manipulated by politicians is greater than most people realize.
How the current number of nine Supreme Court Justices can be changed.
How the current number of nine Supreme Court Justices can be preserved.
What individuals who want to help educate the public about these issues can do.