Former GOP congressman explains why Supreme Court expansion might help beat Trumpism
President Joe Biden has condemned the latest series of far-right Supreme Court rulings this term — but he is not enthusiastic about the idea of legislation to expand the number of seats on the court, warning that it would be a "mistake" that would "politicize it maybe forever."
But that ship sailed long ago, argued former Congressman David Jolly (R-FL) on MSNBC Wednesday — in fact, it may be one of the only options to bring balance to the justice system.
"If [right-wing judges] have to perjure themselves, they'll get on this court and get rid of Roe v. Wade, check. Get rid of LGBTQ rights, check. They're on the way to doing that. They're rolling back the Warren Court and the 20th century," said anchor Joy Reid. "What do you make of the fact that Republicans don't seem to believe they can do that through persuasion? They don't believe their case is strong enough to make through the political process that they're deciding this court is going to do it for them?"
"Yeah," agreed Jolly. "This has been an ideological strategy decades in the making ... the anxiety of many Americans, they feel now that the Supreme Court is outside of the reach of accountability ... the American people say, wait a minute, the court is going in a direction that I'm not necessarily comfortable with. And I think we have to rift."
Jolly admitted that he is a "recent convert" to expanding the Supreme Court. "But if you consider, if you believe, that truly we're in a moment where democracy and our rights are falling, if you will, and we're a nation that suffered the injury of January 6th, that we have a presidential candidate who may win who is promising retribution for the next four years, that we've seen a court roll back civil rights, voting rights, protections of equality and certain fundamental rights we believed we had, if democracy is in that much peril, it is not a big case to make to expand the number of seats on the court. And there is historical precedence for it, right? We know that the Constitution doesn't say there has to be nine. The number of court justices has changed, I believe, six times. It's been 150 years since. There's currently 13 appellate circuits or appellate districts; you can align the justices with the number of appellate districts, as once was done in history."
"I think Democrats can make the case substantively on protection of rights, but also a clear analytical case for why this is an era in which we can consider expanding the court," added Jolly. "And then the passionate arguments about McConnell stopping Merrick Garland and greenlighting Barrett are just fuel to the fire for what is a rational argument to protect democracy and protect our rights today."
Watch below or click the link here.
Leave a Comment