Election 2020
9 Supreme Court Justices or 13?
The Elephant in the Room question for candidate Biden is whether he will move to “pack” the Supreme Court if elected, assuming he has a new Democrat Senate. The former VP will not answer. The question is not only appropriate, it is owed to American voters (on both sides) prior to such an existential fork-in-the-road for the United States.
ETA of said fork? November 3, 2020.
Whether the strategy of deflection and deferral works for Biden remains to be seen. At this moment, four more seats could be added in addition to the existing nine; a number that has existed since 1889 under Ulysees S. Grant. In the 1930s, FDR attempted to add six more seats, targeting fifteen Justices, but that attempt was shot down mightily by Republicans.
Today’s America is a vicious political arena. The past four years have revealed silent, unconstitutional coup attempts by Democrat leadership. When the dust settles post-election and post Durham, I believe the record will reveal Democrats are responsible for illegal surveillance of US citizens, political frame-ups, actual foreign collusion, money-laundering, a likely connection to human trafficking, and other illegal, if not treasonous constitutional breaches.
If I were a Democrat, I would be really worried. But only time will tell.
If Donald Trump is reelected, and retains his McConnell Senate (which is very likely), he would have the constitutional green light to also “pack the court.” Obviously, conservative Justices would be appointed, in the mold of Barrett, Kavanaugh, and Gorsuch.
Want to watch Democrat heads spin? Want to watch them gawk, realizing it has been a Biden strategy from the outset? In the President’s mind, such an aggressive and contrarian move could be easily rationalized.
Republican Talking Points could spin the move as pure patriotism:
“Adding four constitutional Supreme Court Justices guarantees future generations protection from those who wish to alter the blueprint of freedom, including the Bill of Rights. Citizens would also be protected against those who might attempt to legislate from the bench, or deviate from the original intent of the Founding Fathers.”
As a constitutionalist, I for one would not endorse any additions, or packing of the court by any party, for political reasons or any other justifications. Nine is plenty, and nine has worked well us for more than a century.
But the hockey antagonist in me would love to see the president float a notion of adding judges after he’s elected!
Float it out there, and turn on your TV! Just watch Democrats, and a horrified mainstream media, go crazy — and try to shoot their own idea down in flames!
Either way, Democrat leadership would be forced to publicly renounce packing, or corner themselves into retaining the traditional nine. If Trump was brazen enough to float the idea by Republicans, candidate Biden would have to fess up to his campaign coyness here.
To pack or not to pack? Biden would not be able to chicken out answering, as he has to this point.
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Copyright (C) 2020 by Greg Meakin
gregmeakin2020@gmail.com
a Greg Meakin eMagazine
