WASHINGTON – Congressional Democrats will pass legislation Thursday to expand the Supreme Court from nine to 13 judges, along with progressive activists seeking to transform the Supreme Court.
The move intensifies a high-profile ideological battle over the court’s future after former President Donald Trump and Republicans appointed three conservative judges in four years, including one confirmed days before the 2020 election.
The Democratic bill is led by Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts in the Senate, and Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, chairing the Legal Committee, in the House. It is sponsored by Rep Hank Johnson of Georgia and Rep Mondaire Jones of New York.
The Supreme Court could be expanded by a decision of Congress, but the legislation is highly unlikely to become law in the near future, given the slim majority of Democrats, which includes numerous lawmakers who are not up to the idea, and a sitting President Joe Biden, who said he’s not a fan ‘of packing up the court.
But that represents an undercurrent of progressive anger among Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., For denying a vote in 2016 over then-President Barack Obama’s choice to fill a vacancy, citing a election year, before the Trump nominee, Judge Amy, is confirmed. Coney Barrett, the week before the 2020 election.
This anger has taken hold in the Democratic Party, and this new push indicates that it has not disappeared in an era in which the party controls the White House and both chambers of Congress.
The legislators, who intend to introduce the bill in court, will unite with progressive activists Aaron Belkin, who leads the Take Back The Court; Chris Kang, co-founder and CEO of Demand Justice, and Meagan Hatcher-Mays of Indivisible, according to an opinion. All three groups are calling for the addition of judges.
“This bill is a new era where Democrats are finally stopping giving the Supreme Court to Republicans,” said Brian Fallon, a former Senate Democratic lead aide and co-founder of ReformDemand Justice, describing the court as “broken and” reform needed ‘.
“Our task now is to build a grassroots movement that puts pressure on every Democrat in Congress to support this legislation, because it is the only way to restore balance in court and protect our democracy,” he said. .
Last week, Biden announced the establishment of a commission consisting of liberal and conservative voices to study the structure of the Supreme Court, including the term of office and the number of judges.
The size of the Supreme Court has varied since its inception in 1789, but has remained at nine since 1869.
McConnell strongly warned Democrats not to add seats to the court, saying there is’ nothing to the structure or operation of the judicial branch that requires’ study ‘. “
He quoted former judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died in September, and liberal judge Stephen Breyer, who expressed skepticism about the idea of expanding the court.
“President Biden has campaigned for a promise to lower the temperature and unite a divided nation,” McConnell said in a statement last week. “If he really meant it, he would stop giving oxygen to a dangerous, outdated idea and stand up for the party members who hawk it.”
