I've been at the forefront of the resurgence of the court expansion effort for five years* and I can assure everyone that a necessary predicate is electing Democrats to the White House and Congress. If anyone is confused about that ... stop.
* Go follow @takebackthect.bsky.social
One thing that makes me nervous about the resurgence of the court-packing talk is that it's not paired with "but first you absolutely must vote for Biden."
Like, sorry, that's the literal bare minimum that is required if you want to have this conversation.
While I'm at it I will add that expanding & rebalancing the Court is not the only necessary Court reform, it *is* the one that would immediately disempower the right-wing authoritarians who have seized control of SCOTUS and who would block any other meaningful reforms.
bsky.app/profile/jami...
I've been at the forefront of the resurgence of the court expansion effort for five years* and I can assure everyone that a necessary predicate is electing Democrats to the White House and Congress. If anyone is confused about that ... stop.
* Go follow @takebackthect.bsky.social
There's a simple and obvious but essential order of operations here:
1) Elect pro-democracy Democrats to WH, Congress
2) Get rid of the filibuster, without which you can't do anything else
3) Expand/rebalance the court, without with the Court will block anything else
4) Lots more democracy reforms
While I'm at it I will add that expanding & rebalancing the Court is not the only necessary Court reform, it *is* the one that would immediately disempower the right-wing authoritarians who have seized control of SCOTUS and who would block any other meaningful reforms.
bsky.app/profile/jami...
I would add that since this court has shown no respect for its precedent and has invited a pipeline of 5th circuit courts to do the same, Congress should ignore this decision and pass a bill explicitly rebuking this decision. Congress is the first of equals and needs to speak on this.
Until we elect a Dem majority to both the House & the Senate, we can’t expect the GOP to do that!
Right now, only Biden can issue orders, & if the election gives him clear majority, we can have reform, & other important laws to protect rights! Right now, everything is in the WH’s hands.
Of course. A real response requires having control of Congress and presidency. We should have a day 1 plan ready though. It should become part of how we vet candidates. No more Sinemas!
People are sleeping on the fact that Biden has been quietly reforming the courts from the ground up by appointing dozens of black civil rights lawyers & public defenders to the bench instead of the usual white prosecutors & Big Law partners.
Ok, don’t disagree, but I’m also a little confused about the step that goes from electing Dems to killing the filibuster to enacting SCOTUS reform/expansion/etc. Dems are explicitly *opposed* to killing the filibuster and doing anything about SCOTUS. They tell us this. So yeah vote D, but…then what?
The only Dems who were still openly opposed to filibuster reform last term were Synema & Manchin, neither of whom will be in the senate next year. A decade ago you wouldn’t have found any Democrats talking about getting rid of it.
Court reform really only started being an issue in 2015. It’ll take time to get everyone on board, but the more Democrats get elected the better the odds of having enough votes to get reforms passed
Plus, Democrats already got rid of the filibuster for judicial appointments and now are pledged to getting rid of it for codifying Roe. There's also plenty of Democrats on board for court reform, like Senator Whitehouse's Supreme Court reform bill....
Some nits to pick:
• filibuster reform became an issue in 2008-10, when Dems had the trifecta. 10-15 *years* of foot dragging.
• Dem caucus hasn’t changed. I’m skeptical they’ve changed their minds. It’s *NOT* just SineManchin.
“Vote left” is valid. But lol to Dem Senators wanting to do…anything.
The Dem caucus has changed since ‘08-‘10 or w/e. Has it changed enough? Probably not, but it’s not moving towards a greater reverence for the filibuster.
10-15 years is probably necessary to get the more small-c conservative legislative body to recognize something as a problem & get to agreement
on any possible solutions. GOP electeds generally move faster than Dems because 1. They have a massive propaganda operation at their disposal & 2. They’re a party that’s about 85% White, Christian & exurban/rural. Easier to get everyone on board than with a diverse coalition
