Several 2020 Democratic candidates are open to expanding the Supreme Court as a response to Republicans blocking nominees during the Obama administration.
“We are on the verge of a crisis of confidence in the Supreme Court,” Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., told Politico. “We have to take this challenge head on, and everything is on the table to do that.”
Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., have also expressed interest in expanding the court from nine members, where it has stood since 1869, after several fluctuations earlier in the 19th century. Gillibrand said Justice Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation to the court in early 2017 was illegitimate because the prior year, Republicans refused to consider former President Barck Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland.
“It’s not just about expansion, it’s about depoliticizing the Supreme Court,” Warren said. “It’s a conversation that’s worth having.”
Another pair of Democratic White House hopefuls, South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas, have previously suggested they might expand the number of justices.
Buttigieg said during a recent CNN town hall that an overhaul of the judiciary could stop the Supreme Court from “sliding toward being viewed as a nakedly political institution. I’m for us contemplating whatever policy options will allow that to be possible.”
O’Rourke floated expanding the high court to as many as 15 judges and mentioned possible term limits.
Some of their 2020 colleagues have been more cautious about the possibility, which would come with a contentious legislative fight and break with many norms.
“I’m open to these kind of conversations, but I really caution people about doing things that become a tit for tat throughout history,” Cory Booker, D-N.J., said. “So when the Democrats expand it to 11, 12 judges, when Republicans have it, they expand it to 15 judges.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said “the most reasonable” thing for Democrats to do now is win elections and “try to stop the bad judges.”
[Opinion: The real March Madness: Progressives want to pack the Supreme Court]
