Yes, Biden should pack the court: It's time to fight back against Mitch McConnell's power-grabs

[marmar]

Yes, Biden should pack the court: It's time to fight back against Mitch McConnell's power-grabs
Republicans are betting that Democrats don't have the will to fight fire with fire. Biden should prove them wrong

HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
OCTOBER 14, 2020 12:45PM


(Salon) The first day of questioning in the Amy Coney Barrett Supreme Court confirmation hearings was one for the books. The ritual of strong ideological jurists pretending to have never given a thought to the issues of the day is not unprecedented, but the context for it this time around should be unheard of. We are only three weeks away from a national referendum on the president and his party which, in any functioning democracy, would require that decisions about lifetime appointments be postponed until that referendum is decided.

But we don't live in a functioning democracy at the moment, so we are unable to stop a power-mad Republican party from ramming through this appointment despite the fact that the president himself has said publicly that he wants the seat filled in order to ensure a majority will rule in his favor when election disputes go before the court. He and his party have already put such a plan in motion by foreshadowing their intention to contest any outcome not in their favor.

That is the context in which our latest Supreme Court justice will be confirmed on a party line vote. The legitimacy of the appointment and the authority of the court will forever be corrupted by such a raw partisan power play. Any person of real integrity, particularly one who will be serving in a position for which personal honor and superior judgment are paramount job requirements, would refuse to be seated under such tainted circumstances.

Coney Barrett is clearly not such a person, and her answers on the first day of questioning make it clear that she is as unconcerned with her reputation as the Republicans who plan to install her no matter the cost to the stability of our institutions are with their own. .......(more)

https://www.salon.com/2020/10/14/yes-biden-should-pack-the-court-its-time-to-fight-back-against-mitch-mcconnells-power-grabs/

[Bobstandard]

1. It's unpacking the courts dammit!

McConnel has spent all of the Obama administration denying Democrats the right to name judges to Federal courts. He then denied Obama the right to name Gorsuch to the Supreme Court because doing so within a year of a presidential election is “too close”. He jammed through scads of new Conservative federal judges, even side lining legislation on Covid relief to do so. Now he’s jamming through a thoroughly unqualified SCOTUS nominee with less than a month to go. That’s packing the courts. Anything Biden does to ameliorate that is actually unpacking the courts.

Framing matters. Packing is the Republican frame. Unpacking is ours. Let’s get it right.

[magicarpet]

2. Please be careful how you frame the wording of this important issue.

Hyper Fascist Republicans packed the courts with Fascists jurists. Thanks to the Federalists, their secret funding sources, Mitch McConnell, and brain dead Dawn-ald trDump.

Democrats have been left only one alternative to rectify the packing of the entire US court system by the Fascists,...RE-BALANCE the court so the voice of the common people come into consideration during important societal, economic, and political issues heard by this countries' courts.

Democrats do not seek to pack the courts but only to re-balance them so they reflect the intentions of the people. The courts were not intended to exclusively serve the wants/needs/desires of the Hyper Fascists Obscenely Filthy Rich Capitalists only.

We only seek to rebalance the scales of justice and return them to some semblance of starting from an equally balanced point before opening arguments are even presented. And not kop sided from the outset of every case being heard.

[Fiendish Thingy]

3. Why fight to gain power unless you intend to wield it rapidly and ruthlessly?

Cowardice masquerading as pragmatic centrism will have no place in governing in 2021.

[lagomorph777]

4. +1 Ruth is gone; we must act ruthlessly.

Mitch's Rules. Gloves off, brass knuckles on.

[beachbumbob]

5. less said is best said, no need to foocus on this at all until we have our landslide AND MANDATE

[appmanga]

6. Judicial Gerrymandering. Something that should never be lost...

...is two presidents who lost the popular vote will have put a majority of justices on the Supreme Court.

Lindsey Graham talked about people who are on the Court because they deserve to be there. Merrick Garland deserved to be there. One person made the decision to keep him off the Court, one person from one of the least populous states in this country. And the Republicans have the nerve to talk about court packing? Mitch McConnell is every bit the authoritarian Donald Trump is.

This is judicial gerrymandering, and the Democrats need to call it that.