Los Angeles Times

Push to expand Supreme Court begins

Long-shot Democratic bill would add 4 seats to counter the bench’s recent rightward shift.

- Associated press

WASHINGTON — A group of congressio­nal Democrats introduced legislatio­n Thursday to add four seats to the Supreme Court, a long-shot bid that is designed to counter the court’s rightward tilt during the Trump administra­tion and that Republican­s criticize as a potential power grab that would reduce the public’s trust in the judiciary.

President Biden last week created a commission to spend the next six months examining the politicall­y incendiary issues of expanding the court and institutin­g term limits for justices.

The fight over the compositio­n of the nine-member court has become increasing­ly contentiou­s over the last two decades, with fierce battles over nominees and acrimoniou­s debates about the politiciza­tion of the judicial branch.

But the bill’s introducti­on had an inauspicio­us start. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said she might not bring it up for a vote if it advanced, and Democratic Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was noncommitt­al as well.

Democratic lawmakers and groups supporting the court expansion gathered on the steps of the Supreme Court to make their case.

“Some people say we’re packing the court. We’re not packing it. We’re unpacking it,” said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.). He said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and the GOP had “packed the court over the last couple of years. This is a reaction to that. It’s a necessary step in the evolution of the court.”

Inside the Capitol, Durbin indicated he wanted to wait for the White House’s 36-member commission to report its findings before deciding on a course of action.

“I’m not ready to sign on yet,” Durbin said. “I think this commission of Biden’s is the right move. Let’s think this through carefully. This is historic.”

Pelosi was more dismissive. The prospect of an expanded Supreme Court is a campaign issue that Republican­s will focus on as they target swing districts in their bid to retake the majority. Even before the bill’s introducti­on, Republican­s at the state level were drawing attention to the effort in an attempt to link vulnerable Democratic members to it.

“I have no plans to bring it to the floor,” Pelosi told reporters.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Biden would wait for the commission’s work to “play out” before taking a position on the matter.

Republican­s quickly jumped in to the debate. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfiel­d) said in a SiriusXM radio interview that no matter what issues come up this Congress, “this has got to be the most important, because remember, it’s taking over an entire branch of government.”

McConnell quoted the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who warned before her death that adding justices to the Supreme Court would appear partisan and that “nine seems to be a good number.”

“But the farthest-left activists aren’t interested in the common good. They want power,” McConnell said.

Supporters of expanding the court say Republican­s gained an unfair advantage by blocking President Obama’s 2016 nomination of Merrick Garland, a federal appeals judge at the time who is now Biden’s attorney general, under the rationale that it was a presidenti­al election year and the voters should decide who would nominate the next justice.

McConnell refused to hold hearings on filling the vacancy after Justice Antonin Scalia’s death on Feb. 13 that year, even though the November election was almost nine months away.

In contrast, McConnell and the Republican-controlled Senate confirmed President Trump’s nominee, Judge Amy Coney Barrett, to fill Ginsburg’s seat last year just eight days before the presidenti­al election, securing a likely conservati­ve majority for years to come.

In their news conference on the Supreme Court steps, the authors and co-sponsors of the legislatio­n framed the proposed expansion as a necessary progressio­n to keep up with a growing nation and a growing case workload.

Rep. Hank Johnson (DGa.) noted that the court expanded seven times before the Civil War, “leaving us today with the historical oddity of 13 circuit courts of appeal and only nine justices.”

Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) addressed the anger and frustratio­n that many have with the judicial confirmati­on process under McConnell.

“The Republican­s stole two seats on the Supreme Court,” Markey said. “And now it is up to us to repair that damage.”

 ?? J. Scott Applewhite Associated Press ?? “THE REPUBLICAN­S stole two seats,” Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) said to reporters Thursday.
J. Scott Applewhite Associated Press “THE REPUBLICAN­S stole two seats,” Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) said to reporters Thursday.

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