Dims new goal: pack the courts like FDR

Started by T Hunt, July 04, 2018, 01:50:33 AM

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T Hunt

https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/2018/7/2/17513520/court-packing-explained-fdr-roosevelt-new-deal-democrats-supreme-court

QuoteThere is nothing in the Constitution mandating that the Supreme Court have nine members, and a simple act of Congress could increase that number to 11, or 15, or even more. That effectively creates a way for a political party in control of the House, Senate, and presidency to add a large number of ideologically sympathetic justices to the Court, all at once.
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If (a) kind of judicial conservatism comes to dominate the Supreme Court, then even winning back the White House and Congress won't be enough for programs like a $15 minimum wage, or Medicare-for-all, or a free college plan, to be passed and secured. The Supreme Court would stand ready to rule them unconstitutional nearly as soon as they are passed. In such a scenario, court-packing starts to look like a reasonable defensive measure.

The prospect of a Court slapping down progressive economic measures brings to mind the last time court-packing was seriously considered. In 1937, Franklin Roosevelt was facing off with a hostile Supreme Court that routinely ruled aspects of the New Deal unconstitutional on the same grounds. During that era, the Court interpreted the due process clauses of the Fifth and 14th Amendments as sharply limiting economic regulation and ruling out things like federal bans on child labor, minimum wage laws, and legislation limiting work weeks to 60 (!) hours.
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Roosevelt's plan to increase the court's size — which would've allow him as many as six new justices, for a 9-6 majority for the New Deal on a 15-member court — ultimately failed in the Senate, but not before successfully pressuring Justice Owen Roberts to switch his alignment from the Court's conservatives to the liberals and rule for the constitutionality of minimum wage laws and the National Labor Relations Act.

If calls for court-packing grow loud enough, you could see something similar happen on the current court, if John Roberts, soon to be the median justice, starts to view a major part of his job as avoiding the radical disruption of the Court by Democrats who fear being locked out of policy influence for a generation.
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One of the most extensive arguments for court-packing comes from David Faris, a political scientist at Roosevelt University, whose book It's Time To Fight Dirty argues for court-packing as part of a larger set of strategies to amplify Democrats' political power, including statehood for DC and Puerto Rico, breaking California into multiple states, and expanding the House of Representatives.
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To lower the stakes of confirmation battles, Faris favors eliminating lifetime tenure for judges and adopting the nonpartisan group Fix The Court's planof nonrenewable 18-year term limits. But unless nominees voluntarily pledge to step down after 18 years (which would effectively be a form of unilateral disarmament if only one party's nominees take that pledge), term limits would require a constitutional amendment to enact. Court-packing, by contrast, only requires an act of Congress and could pressure Republicans to accept term limits as a compromise.

"If the reactionary right is unwilling to go along with this idea, as they almost certainly won't be due to short-term political calculations, Democrats must use the power granted to them by the Constitution to pack the Supreme Court, protect the legislation demanded by a majority of Americans and, hopefully, to convince their opponents that the current structure of the court system cries out for a bipartisan solution," Faris concludes.

Wow! They really have some horrific plans to cheat the system!
I have no doubt that given the chance they wld definitely do this. All in the name of putting history back on its 'proper' progressive course. When the left loses the game they change the rules, and everything is changeable. Thank God (and Trump) that they wont get the chance to try any of this.
"Let's Go Brandon, I agree!"  -Biden

T Hunt

Here is tucker arguing with some harvard libtard who is pushing this idea:

https://youtu.be/KTM3NpsXwlw
"Let's Go Brandon, I agree!"  -Biden

Cryptic Bert

Perhaps they should first win some elections. Actually first decide what they are, democrats or socialists. Then come up with an actual platform that does not involve stalking and inciting riots. Then achieve the majority by winning elections.

Baby steps.

AndyJackson

Quote from: The Boo Man... on July 04, 2018, 06:23:25 PM
Perhaps they should first win some elections. Actually first decide what they are, democrats or socialists. Then come up with an actual platform that does not involve stalking and inciting riots. Then achieve the majority by winning elections.

Baby steps.
Typical brilliance by the left.  Now that they are selling this as the greatest idea ever, Trump should do it.

Put his whole list of 25 on the court.

Then have Congress reverse the law to make it "not a thing" again.