Congress has been eyeing the Supreme Court ever since Trump started filling vacancies. The calls for change have only gotten louder.
And a new bill in Congress would change the Supreme Court forever.
When Democrats lose the game, they do everything in their power to change the rules.
We all saw it when Donald Trump was in 2016 – they said it was unfair that Hillary won the popular vote but Trump won more electoral votes.
The Left then went on a campaign to abolish the Electoral College, which would have required an amendment to the Constitution.
Though that was doomed to fail, Democrats’ attempts to pack the Supreme Court could happen any day.
There is nothing in the Constitution to prevent Joe Biden from nominating more Justices to the Court and the Democrat controlled Senate from approving them.
Thankfully, no such race-to-the-bottom has happened…yet.
That “yet” is exactly why Ted Cruz proposed a new bill in Congress.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is leading a group of Republican senators in proposing a constitutional amendment that would prevent any future president or Legislature from stacking the United States Supreme Court.
The proposed amendment by Cruz merely specifies that “the Supreme Court of the United States shall be composed of nine justices.” The amendment is co-sponsored by Sens. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., Mike Lee, R-Utah, Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, Josh Hawley, R-Mo., Thom Tillis, R-N.C., John Kennedy, R-La., Cindy Hyde-Smith, R-Miss., and Mike Braun, R-Ind.
“The Democrats’ answer to a Supreme Court that is dedicated to upholding the rule of law and the Constitution is to pack it with liberals who will rule the way they want. The Supreme Court should be independent, not inflated by every new administration. That’s why I’ve introduced a constitutional amendment to permanently keep the number of justices at nine,” Cruz said in a statement.
If his amendment is approved by Congress, it will be sent to the states for ratification. Cruz first proposed the amendment in 2021, in reaction to Democratic statements hinting that they could seek to increase the number of Supreme Court justices to counteract the impact of the three conservative justices chosen by former President Donald Trump.
When asked what Democrats could do about the court if Democrats recovered control of the Senate next year, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., declared “everything is on the table” during an appearance on MSNBC in October 2020, soon before the presidential election.
The calls grew louder when the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade in a momentous ruling last year. “Right-wing extremists have hijacked the Supreme Court of the United States,” progressive Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., tweeted last year after a draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito was leaked. “We must #ExpandTheCourt to rebalance it and defend our basic rights, including the constitutional right to an abortion.”
“For years the left has been desperate to pack the court to promote their radical agenda. We must ensure that we stay true to the court’s founding principles, maintain the precedent of nine justices, and keep the Democrats from their brazen attempts to rig our democracy,” said Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo.
House Republicans submitted a comparable amendment in January, warning that if Democrats obtain control of Congress, they will “weaponize” the Supreme Court.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed back in June 2022 that President Biden does not support court-packing during an Air Force One press gaggle.
“That is something that the president does not agree with,,” Jean-Pierre told reporters during the gaggle. “That is not something that he wants to do.”
But Biden could change his mind at the drop of a hat…as we’ve seen in the past.
Stay tuned to DC Daily Journal.
