One of the single most compelling arguments against President Trump in 2016 was his open disdain for constitutional and civic norms. It was an especially compelling argument against Trump when he was still an unknown quantity, and it’s one that could still hold water, were he to face a staid, respected opponent with high regard for decorum.
Unfortunately for Democrats, their fresh-faced insurgents seem keen on annihilating that defense. They are embracing the very worst of Trump’s excesses, and even then some worse still.
Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York have now added court packing to the norms they’re open to destroying, POLITICO now reports.
They’re making a big mistake, as they could easily learn from recent history.
Perhaps the single most successful and lasting apparatus of the Trump administration thus far is his success in confirming judicial appointees. Tax cuts come and go, but a judicial appointment lasts a lifetime. And although Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s machinations deserve some of the credit, Trump’s success can really be attributed to former Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, who nuked the judicial filibuster in 2013.
And now Democrats, who handed Trump his greatest achievement through their own ill-considered power grab, now want to combat Trump’s greatest achievement by making another ill-considered power grab. Sounds brilliant!
The Founding Fathers designed the judiciary to be independent. Once upon a time, otherwise known as six years ago, it took 60 members of the Senate to close debate and move to consider a nominee. Judicial appointments have always been fiercely charged, but once Reid invoked the nuclear option, it hastened the politicization of a process meant to be as widely bipartisan as possible.
Democrats will not solve this problem by double down on that polarization. They can, on the other hand, solve it by winning elections and appointing judges themselves. Embracing court packing will simply hand their foes another weapon that will be used against them much more effectively in the future.
So long as Democrats continue to follow, or even lead, Trump down the norm-destroying rabbit hole, why should voters trust their complaints that he abuses power?
