Eager to consolidate their power, a group of Democrats is preparing to introduce a bill that would add four seats to the Supreme Court and create a liberal majority on the bench.
At least the Democratic lawmakers are being honest about their intentions. The goal of this bill isn’t to “balance the judiciary” or “reform” it, as some leftists have argued; it’s to hand another branch of government to the Democrats. Brian Fallon, a former Senate Democratic aide and a co-founder of Demand Justice, the left-wing group that helped shape the bill, summed up the legislation nicely: “This bill marks a new era where Democrats finally stop conceding the Supreme Court to Republicans.”
The bill, which is sponsored by Reps. Mondaire Jones and Jerry Nadler of New York, Hank Johnson of Georgia, and Sen. Ed. Markey of Massachusetts, won’t survive the Senate. But it’s remarkable to see how Democrats have gone from rhetorically supporting court-packing to actually writing bills that would enforce their radical vision of the court. This is not just a litmus test anymore — it is an actual policy that Democrats are working to force upon the federal government, and they don’t care about the consequences.
They don’t care what the public thinks either. Court-packing advocates love to claim expanding the Supreme Court bench will “return power to the people,” but poll after poll proves that the public doesn’t want anything to do with Democrats’ plan. A Washington Examiner/YouGov poll conducted last year found that a 47%-34% plurality of people opposed court-packing, and an Annenberg Civic Knowledge Survey from 2019 said 70% of respondents believed that the court has “about the right amount of power.” Even with the addition of former President Donald Trump’s three conservative justices, the public continues to trust and support the Supreme Court as it currently functions. A majority of people even wanted Justice Amy Coney Barrett confirmed!
Not only does this bill defy the will of the public, it also defies the wishes of liberal legal thinkers. The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg warned Democrats against court-packing, saying it would destroy the integrity off the court. Justice Stephen Breyer echoed her concerns recently, and what did he get in response? Demands for his resignation.
The Democrats behind this bill are out-of-touch radicals who would burn down an entire branch of government just to prove a point. They want more power, and clearly, they’re serious about getting it. Unfortunately, the rest of the Democratic Party isn’t far behind — which is something voters should keep in mind when the midterm elections roll around.
