Court Packing, Here We Come?

The Biden administration has appointed a “bipartisan” commission to study “reforms” to the Supreme Court. It isn’t hard to see where this is going:

Biden campaign lawyer Bob Bauer and former deputy assistant attorney general within the Obama Justice Department Cristina Rodríguez will serve as co-chairs, according to Politico. The outlet said the commission’s exact mandate is still being determined.

Here is a clue:

Politico pointed out that Fredrickson, who has previously served as American Constitution Society president, remarked during an interview in 2019 that, “I often point out to people who aren’t lawyers that the Supreme Court is not defined as ‘nine person body’ in the Constitution, and it has changed size many times.”

Well, sort of. The Court started out with six seats, and the number did change a few times–six, to be exact–in the early years of the Republic. But the Court has been fixed at nine seats since legislation to that effect was passed in 1869.

I think it is pretty obvious that the Democrats are trying to soften us up for legislation packing the court with new seats, if they can get it through the Senate, which seems unlikely. The only good thing about this initiative is that Jack Goldsmith, who is sensible, is a member of the commission.

Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.

Responses