WASHINGTON’s – Progressive Democrats proposed legislation on Thursday to extend the Supreme Court to 13 judges, setting up a caustic rhetorical contest that Democratic leaders—including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi—signaled to avoid.
While the idea of raising the nation’s highest court was sharply criticised by Senate Republicans and generally rejected by President Joe Biden. Progressives are promoting the idea to blunt the effect of the three appointments of President Donald Trump to a court where conservatives currently hold 6-3 edge.
But even before the lawmakers officially introduced the bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she had no plans to put it down.
The implementation came days after Biden formed a 36-member commission to examine possible Supreme Court institutional changes. The president promised the left-wing pressure commission as Trump and Senate Republicans rushed to confirm Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett last year.
The court “is out of control and must be corrected,” Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass, said Thursday outside the Supreme Court. “Too many Americans have lost confidence in the court as a neutral arbiter of our judiciary’s most significant constitutional and legal issues.”
Pelosi told reporters on Thursday that the proposal should be considered, and she applauded the president’s commission to do that. But she poured cold water on the bill.
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“I think it’s an idea to consider, and I think the president takes the right path to having a commission to research such a matter,” she said. “I won’t carry it to the floor.”
Progressive lawmakers and advocates believe adding court seats, set at nine since 1869, is the only way to curb the conservative majority. But the Supreme Court law will face an uphill fight on Capitol Hill, not only because of Republican opposition but also because of Biden’s own stance on the subject.
After hedging for weeks during the campaign to help broaden the court, Biden said in October that he was “not a fan of court-packing.” His commission is not expected to develop concrete recommendations, announced Friday, will discuss alternatives beyond adding to the court, and has a six-month deadline to complete its work.
Conservatives criticised the White House for introducing the bill. Carrie Severino, president of the conservative Judicial Crisis Network, slammed for pushing the topic “left-wing dark money parties,” accusing Biden of “changing his tune.”
The White House hasn’t weighed the law.
Several Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee presented the bill, including its chairman, Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., and Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y., and Hank Johnson, D-Ga.
Nadler dismissed concerns about the future of legislation in the House and said “Pelosi is a very good judge of events” and, as the court ruled on critical issues, “Pelosi and others will come along.”
But the notion split Democrats as easily as it scorned Republicans.
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the Senate minority whip, told reporters that he thinks “this Biden’s commission is the right step” and called the campaign “historic.” But he wasn’t immediately sold on law to extend the court. In Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell’s decision to postpone consideration of President Barack Obama’s nominee to court in 2016, Merrick Garland, the debate is wrapped up, but hurry through Trump’s choice, Barrett, four years later.
“I wasn’t pleased and I said that. I want to make sure our answer is fair, “He said he wasn’t sure whether the bill will get a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee that he chairs.
Markey addressed Biden’s committee, saying lawmakers are “beginning the process” of passing the law “so the discussion on this topic begins.”
Biden “is working on a different track, and we await his commission, but we’re not waiting for the solution to be introduced,” the Massachusetts senator added.
Jones said he appreciates the “president’s appreciation of this importance,” but called it “odd” that there is no instruction to make recommendations.
“The harm was done, we don’t need a commission to tell us we need to restore the court’s equilibrium,” he said.
McConnell spoke on Senate floor against the proposal Thursday. He said the plan is a “court-packing” example that constitutes a direct assault on the judicial branch, adding “serious people across the political spectrum have a responsibility to condemn this.”
The judges themselves, including those named by Democratic presidents, also backed the proposal. Last week, Associate Justice Stephen Breyer said that such “alteration” would undermine trust in court rulings, undermining its hard-won power to serve as a check on both party and Congress members.
While Democrats hold a plurality in the House, it’s slim. Rep. Julia Letlow was sworn in as Louisiana’s first congresswoman on Wednesday, resulting in the Democrats’ majority shrinking to 218-212. That means the majority can afford no more than two party-line votes defects.
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