BALANCING THE COURT

The Republicans have recently accused the Democrats of daring to consider “packing” the Supreme Court if the Republican Senate and President push through Radical Right Judge Amy Comey Barrett to replace Liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the last moments before the lame duck Republican President and Senate leave office (assuming the upcoming election brings in Joe Biden as President and a majority of Democrats in the Senate). The fact is that the Republican Senate hypocritically blocked President Obama from replacing Justice Scalia with Judge Merrick Garland about one year before the end of Obama’s presidency and is now pushing through Judge Barrett in the last days of Trump’s presidency and the present Senate using the exact opposite logic in each case because one logic suited them then and the opposite now. It is pure politics without regard to the will of the American people. Now the Republicans complain that Biden and Harris will not answer whether they will pack the Court if elected. But actually there is no reason why Biden or Harris should answer that hypothetical question which is phrased in terminology to make them look bad before the election. Actually the Republicans have packed the Supreme Court and want to continue packing it now because the polls favor the Democrats in the upcoming election. If the Republican packing succeeds, the Supreme Court will have 6 judges on the Right and only 3 on the Left. The remedy to this unbalanced Court would be for the Democrats to change the size of the Supreme Court by adding 3 more judges and appoint liberal judges to take those positions after the Democrats take office, thus making it 6 tending one way and 6 tending the other way. There is nothing in the Constitution that sets the number of Supreme Court justices, and historically it has been changed in the past.