Biden sends court idea to committee
Tries to hold off power-mad progressives
President Biden’s Supreme Court reform “commission” is really a cover to get liberals off his back while they stew for another six months over having a conservative high court.
Biden’s commission does check off some boxes for progressives, especially those from Massachusetts.
Harvard Law Professor and Trump hater Laurence Tribe? Check.
Liberal former federal Judge Nancy Gertner? Check.
So you’d think power-hungry progressives would be over the moon and already relishing a chance to pack the high court with Democratic picks.
But here’s the problem — Biden gave the commission, comprised mostly of academics, no actual power to make recommendations, only study the various alternatives. And he was forced to put a few alleged conservatives on the commission — though having served in the Bush administration does not make you a conservative.
This commission has six months to report back to
Biden, buying him a little time and frustrating liberal court reformers who want changes now.
“We don’t have time to spend six months studying the issue — especially without a promise of real conclusions at the end,” said Aaron Belkin, director of Take Back the Court. “The solution is already clear. Adding seats is the only way to restore balance to the Court, and Congress should get started right away.”
Belkin’s organization is pressing liberals like U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren to take the initiative and bypass this toothless commission. Congress has the power to add seats to the Supreme Court, though it hasn’t done so for more than a century.
Biden already made it pretty clear during the campaign that packing the court with extra justices is not his first choice, but he did promise liberals he would study the idea. So you get what we saw on Friday, a 36-member commission which looks good but doesn’t have much power.
The commission is supposed to hold public hearings in coming weeks and analyze various reform ideas like court packing, finishing in 180 days.
The appointment of the commission comes as liberals try to eliminate another perceived roadblock — Justice Stephen Breyer.
Progressive groups moved on Friday to launch a campaign to force the 82-yearold Breyer, appointed by Democrat Bill Clinton, into retirement to make way for a younger and more liberal replacement.
Breyer though doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere yet and earlier this week spoke out against adding more justices, warning it would make the high court even more political.
Breyer’s comments were a major blow to reform advocates and clearly perturbed liberals, who now want some payback against the judge.
“We are now firmly in the window when past justices have announced their retirement, so it’s officially worrisome that Justice Breyer has not said yet that he will step down,” said Brian Fallon of Justice Democrats. “The only responsible choice for Justice Breyer is to immediately announce his retirement so President Biden can quickly nominate the firstever black woman Supreme Court justice.”
So not only do liberals want to remake the court, they now want to eliminate even Democratic-appointed justices who they deem too moderate.