Thanks Pete, You Were The First To Consider-Then-Endorse Expanding Supreme Court + Federal Court, Now The Others Agree

Thanks for endorsing the issue because you're made it a real issue that may be nationally debated

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/18/2020-democrats-supreme-court-1223625
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Sens. Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand told POLITICO they would not rule out expanding the Supreme Court if elected president, showcasing a new level of interest in the Democratic field on an issue that has until recently remained on the fringes of debate.

The surprising openness from White House hopefuls along with other prominent Senate Democrats to making sweeping changes — from adding seats to the high court to imposing term limits on judges and more — comes as the party is eager to chip away at the GOP’s growing advantage in the courts.

“We are on the verge of a crisis of confidence in the Supreme Court,” said Harris (D-Calif.). “We have to take this challenge head on, and everything is on the table to do that.”

Expanding the Supreme Court would amount to a historic power play by the next Democratic president and Congress, requiring an intense legislative fight and the abandonment of many judicial and congressional norms.

But Democrats say that after Republicans blocked Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland and other lower court judges during President Barack Obama’s final term only to quickly fill those vacancies, the party needs an equally bruising response.

Gillibrand said in an interview that she believes Justice Neil Gorsuch essentially possesses an illegitimate seat after Garland was denied even a committee hearing. The New York Democrat added that the Senate should move swiftly to impose strict ethics rules on the Supreme Court.

“It’s not just about expansion, it’s about depoliticizing the Supreme Court,” said Warren (D-Mass.), who mentioned bringing appellate judges into Supreme Court cases as an option.

“It’s a conversation that’s worth having,” she added.

Their comments come after South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke suggested they might expand the high court as part of their bids to win the Democratic nomination.

Driving the push are liberal groups like Demand Justice and Indivisible, who are eager to see Democrats go on the offensive after Republicans flirted with the idea of blocking Hillary Clinton from filling the vacancy left by Antonin Scalia’s 2016 death even if she won. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said then that there is “historical precedent for a Supreme Court with fewer justices.”

When Donald Trump won the presidency, the GOP quickly filled that slot along with many others that McConnell had kept empty in the run-up to the 2016 election. The Senate majority leader and the president have confirmed two relatively young justices to the Supreme Court and stocked the Circuit Court benches with similarly youthful judges who could serve for 30 years or longer.

“The court should not be a court that you can figure out who the Republican judges are and who aren’t,” said Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), who supports the idea of expanding the Supreme Court.

“The debate is quickly moving past the question of whether Democrats should seek to reform our courts to the question of exactly what type of reform to pursue. Adding seats to the Supreme Court is a necessary step,” said Brian Fallon, a former Hillary Clinton aide who runs Demand Justice. “It is reassuring to see so many candidates beginning to recognize the urgency of this.”

Added Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible: “Any Democratic presidential candidate who is serious about implementing a progressive agenda has to seriously consider appointing new justices to unpack the courts.”

A new advocacy group launched in October called Pack the Courts is vying to make court reform a central theme of the 2020 election. The group has raised $500,000 and aims to spend $2 million during the 2020 campaign cycle, said executive director Aaron Belkin. He warned that major progressive proposals like “Medicare for All” would not survive conservative legal challenges “because the court has been stolen.”

“If you’re not going to give the voters an honest explanation of how you’re going to deal with that problem, then you shouldn’t be taken seriously as a candidate,” he said.
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YEP