I’m not a fan of court packing. Joe Biden just said it (finally). I’ll say it too, because I’m not either. But I’m also not a fan of a polarized, political Supreme Court. Our very democracy depends on the wisdom of impartial, non-partisan justices to evaluate our laws against the template for our government: The Constitution. Nothing is more important.
Full disclosure time. Politically, I’m an apolitical Independent. Given a choice, I’ll stay out of politics. These days, I don’t feel like I have much choice. Life is scary, and I don’t trust ANYONE in power right now more than I trust the American people to #DemandBetter from their leaders. I’m voting for Joe, because the comparison isn’t even close.
Now…assuming the Republicans push through their latest SCOTUS nominee, pushing the Nation’s highest court ‘hard right’, I think court packing could be a solution for the next President. Importantly, I’m not suggesting that Democrats’ pack the court with “liberal” justices to balance out the damage done by the Republicans. No, that would just escalate things, and the makeup of the court will not improve. Instead, Dems need to take the Constitutional high ground, and assuming they gain control of the Senate and Presidency, Democrats need to work to make the court better for everyone, and make sure there’s no reason for the GOP to retaliate.
How you ask? Sounds impossible? Maybe.
But I have some ideas.
Let’s add two new justices. BUT, first, change the laws so that a 2/3 vote is required to confirm ALL lifetime judicial appointments, ensuring the 2 new justices, and all future appointments, will be bipartisan. As they should be. This is America. Courts MUST be impartial and independent.
Adding two new bipartisan judges will add a great deal of balance to the current court, which will still lean slightly conservative, while expanding the 9 seat bench to 11. By making it a law, it will require both houses of Congress and The President to change it…because it should NOT be left up to the Senate to just change the rules on these important appointments, as it is now.
The appointment process can still be changed in the future (hopefully for the better, and with bipartisan agreement) but the temptations..and ability…for one party to try to change the law just to gain a majority in the independent, apolitical and non-partisan high court will certainly shrink.
It’s time we all start thinking about the bigger picture. Beyond politics and parties. It’s time we remember that we can Make America Better, because going backwards is NEVER an actual option. MAGA is just the fear that things can’t get any better than they used to be, and we shouldn’t sell out our future
to fear.
I plan to vote for the future, because MAGA, like everything else that comes from Trump, is a lie.~jg
Footnote: Even if Biden doesn’t have a democratic majority in both houses of Congress, he could still plausibly sell this to some conservative Republicans who still believe in the sanctity of the Supreme Court. Getting it through as a bipartisan effort would be difficult, but Biden says he can work across the aisle…I guess we’ll see
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Just Thinking ~ Thoughts on music, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness…and other less political stuffs.
by Jamie Gray
2020-10-13T18:02:32.000Z
