Democrats introduced legislation Thursday to expand the Supreme Court, a symbolic win for progressive groups who have been agitating for court reforms, despite the fact that the bill isn\u2019t likely to go anywhere in this Congress.<\/p>\n
The bill, introduced by Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) and Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), would expand the size of the court from nine to 13 seats. They argue that their proposal will restore balance to the Supreme Court after years of Republicans and President Donald Trump politicizing it.<\/p>\n
\u201cRepublicans stole the court\u2019s majority with Justice Amy Coney Barrett\u2019s confirmation, completing their crime spree,\u201d Markey said, referring to Trump rushing through confirmation of now-Supreme Court Justice Barrett just weeks before he lost the 2020 presidential election.<\/p>\n
That was after then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in 2016 made the unprecedented decision to prevent President Barack Obama from filling a Supreme Court seat with his nominee, Merrick Garland. McConnell and Senate Republicans denied Obama that seat for more than a year, and then let Trump fill it with a conservative pick, now-Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.<\/p>\n
\u201cSenate Republicans have politicized the Supreme Court, undermined its legitimacy, and threatened the rights of millions of Americans, especially people of color, women and our immigrant communities,\u201d said Markey. \u201cThis legislation will restore the court\u2019s balance and public standing and begin to repair the damage done to our judiciary and democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a copy of their bill, called the Judiciary Act of 2021:<\/p>\n
Judiciary Act of 2021 by jen_bendery on Scribd<\/p>\n
The lawmakers unveiled their bill on the steps of the Supreme Court on Thursday morning, alongside progressive groups including Demand Justice, Indivisible and Take Back the Court.<\/p>\n
Nadler, who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, emphasized that it\u2019s not new to add seats to the Supreme Court to change the balance of its political makeup \u2015 a practice known as court packing. It\u2019s changed seven times in the history of the country, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome people say we\u2019re packing the court. We\u2019re not packing the court. We\u2019re unpacking it,\u201d Nadler said. \u201cSen. McConnell and Republicans packed the court over the last couple of years. This is a response to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
So far, these lawmakers are in the minority in their party on this issue. President Joe Biden isn\u2019t a fan of expanding the Supreme Court, and lawmakers don\u2019t appear to have any support in House or Senate Democratic leadership.<\/span><\/p>\n Asked Thursday if she has any plans to give the Supreme Court expansion bill a vote on the House floor, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was brief. \u201cNo,\u201d she told reporters at her weekly press conference.<\/p>\n Instead, Pelosi lent support to Biden\u2019s newly formed commission on court reforms, which will study the issue for six months.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know if that\u2019s a good idea or a bad idea,\u201d the speaker said of adding seats to the Supreme Court. \u201cI think the president is taking the right approach to study such a thing.\u201d<\/p>\n But the bill\u2019s authors seem to be taking the long view that their bill will, eventually, catch on with more Democrats as it becomes more clear what is at stake.<\/p>\n \u201cPelosi is a very good judge of events,\u201d said Nadler, when asked about Pelosi\u2019s comments on their bill. \u201cI believe that as events unfold, as the court comes down with decisions destructive to a woman\u2019s right to choose, decisions destructive to the climate, as they come down with decisions destructive of civil liberties, I believe that Speaker Pelosi and others will come along.\u201d<\/p>\n
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