# Court Packing: An Idea Whose Time Has Come Around Again? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 4, 2017, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-packing-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-around-again/797916 "2017-10-04T04:19:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-packing-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-around-again/797916/101 "2017-10-04T23:28:16Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > Good grief. Here: Bush II’s presidency was stolen and if we’d gotten Gore then the entire supreme court would be packed with kale-chewing hippies by now. Are we done? > And obviously, what the democrats need to do is nominate fifty new judges, and then make a law saying no additional judges can be appointed and that any replacement judge must be ideologically similar to the prior one. And then they should make another law saying the prior law was actually a superamendment requiring a 100% majority to change, and of course their army of judges should declare that both of the new laws are constitutional. > > I see no problems with this plan and subscribe to my own newsletter. Thanks for the playbook. Yoink! :runs away to do it first: ---
**Author:** ![Kyrie\_Eleison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kyrie_eleison/32/7682_2.png) [@Kyrie\_Eleison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyrie_Eleison)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-packing-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-around-again/797916/102 "2017-10-04T23:28:43Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > The 1960 election was stolen, and so was Bork’s seat. From whom was Bork’s seat stolen? I can’t be sure whether you mean that it was stolen from Reagan, from Bork himself, or from the Republicans in general. > [@Bricker](#): > > The Bork rejection was offered in response to the Garland one. There was no Garland rejection; that’s sort of the point. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-packing-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-around-again/797916/103 "2017-10-04T23:30:25Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > But the failure to beat Clinton was with the DNC thumb on the scale. Cite? Because an awful lot of people claim that, but the DNC’s “thumb” doesn’t fill in the ovals on the ballots, and those were pretty clear. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-packing-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-around-again/797916/104 "2017-10-05T00:00:23Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > Cite? Because an awful lot of people claim that, but the DNC’s “thumb” doesn’t fill in the ovals on the ballots, and those were pretty clear. I thought it was generally accepted that the DNC’s antics pissed of a not inconsiderable number of Sanders supporters, and at least a handful of those were disgruntled enough to abstain from voting or even vote for Two Scoops. And “a handful” is a larger number than the amount Clinton lost by. I don’t have a cite for this, though. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-packing-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-around-again/797916/105 "2017-10-05T00:32:12Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > We can never know for sure but it is widely believed Bernie Sanders would have beaten Trump had he been the democratic candidate. This is backed up by polls where Sanders consistently beat Trump in a hypothetical match-up (for whatever that is worth). I personally figure Sanders might have a better chance if he avoided the mistake Clinton made by assuming this was a typical election. Had Sanders Hulked out on Trump and gone off on extended but articulate (and, of course, true) rants about what an underqualified idiot Trump was, he might have satisfied the need in the 2016 American voter to make the election _fun_, which Trump was doing but Clinton could not. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-packing-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-around-again/797916/106 "2017-10-05T01:09:44Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > Cite? Because an awful lot of people claim that, but the DNC’s “thumb” doesn’t fill in the ovals on the ballots, and those were pretty clear. Sure (bolding mine): > [@](#): > > Clinton’s opponents, Martin O’Malley and Bernie Sanders, separately criticized the decision by Wasserman Schultz to schedule only six debates in the 2016 Presidential Primary, fewer than in previous election cycles, as well as the timing of the debates.[65][66] > > Some of Wasserman Schultz’s actions that the news covered during the primaries were: having reduced the debate schedule,[67][68][69] disinvited former DNC Vice Chair Tulsi Gabbard to the first primary Democratic debate,[70][71] in an altercation shut down Sanders’ campaign’s access to the DNC server and thus halting their campaign until immense backslash led to her to rescind it,[72][73] defended the system of superdelegates that were used to signal to the support base that Clinton would be nominee,[74] quietly rescinded Obama’s 2008 ban on donations to the DNC from corporate lobbyists and PACs[75][76] and thus paving way for the Hillary Victory Fund that was later reported by Politico to have laundered money to their campaign and DNC having hid the details of its agreement with the Clinton campaign[77] and falsely accused Sanders supporters of violence at the Nevada Convention.[78][79][80]. > > In May, MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski called on Schultz to step down over the DNC’s bias against the Bernie Sanders campaign.[81] The 2016 Democratic National Committee email leak revealed that Schultz was furious at the negative coverage of her actions in the media, and she emailed Chuck Todd that such coverage of her “must stop”.[82] Describing the coverage as the “LAST straw”, she ordered the DNC’s communications director to call MSNBC president Phil Griffin to demand an apology from Brzezinski.[83][84][85] > > **Resignation** > > After WikiLeaks published Democratic National Committee emails which suggested that **DNC staffers and partly Wasserman Schultz herself[86][87][88][89][90] had inappropriately backed Hillary Clinton in the primary campaigns while criticizing the Bernie Sanders campaign**, Wasserman Schultz tendered her resignation as the head of the DNC, to become effective as of the close of the nominating convention in Philadelphia. > > SOURCE: [Debbie Wasserman Schultz - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debbie_Wasserman_Schultz#2016_Presidential_election) ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-packing-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-around-again/797916/107 "2017-10-05T02:27:23Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > So, 22 Democrats (nearly half) voted no on John Roberts. You could have just apologized for being totally wrong in your original assertion. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-packing-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-around-again/797916/108 "2017-10-05T02:50:09Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > The 1960 election was stolen, and so was Bork’s seat. You give those back and I’ll make sure we fix up the 2000 election and the Garland seat. Who stole Bork’s seat? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-packing-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-around-again/797916/109 "2017-10-05T02:58:22Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Who stole Bork’s seat? Biden and Kennedy. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Economist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c89c15/32.png) [@Evil\_Economist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Economist)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-packing-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-around-again/797916/110 "2017-10-05T03:19:47Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > The 1960 election was stolen, and so was Bork’s seat. You give those back and I’ll make sure we fix up the 2000 election and the Garland seat. Didn’t you throw a hissy fit the last time someone (me) pointed out that 6 Republicans voted against Bork? Was that because someone (me) had just tricked you into saying that if more than 5 people in their own party voted against a candidate, that was proof the candidate was a nutjob? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-packing-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-around-again/797916/111 "2017-10-05T05:10:53Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Biden and Kennedy. So Bork had a seat on the Supreme Court and they took it from him? Was Bork owed that seat? Did Bork have any claim whatsoever that the seat on the Supreme Court was his and only his? ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-packing-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-around-again/797916/112 "2017-10-05T12:37:20Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Sure (bolding mine): The wikileaks docs don’t show what is claimed. She resigned, as far as I can tell, because many on the left \*thought \*she was guilty, and was thus a liability to the DNC. Of course it helps that the idea that Bernie had the election stolen from his was pushed by Russian bots. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-packing-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-around-again/797916/113 "2017-10-05T13:10:57Z")
> [@Lobohan](#): > > The wikileaks docs don’t show what is claimed. She resigned, as far as I can tell, because many on the left \*thought \*she was guilty, and was thus a liability to the DNC. > > Of course it helps that the idea that Bernie had the election stolen from his was pushed by Russian bots. I suppose you have cites for all that? Also, I listed more than just the Wikileaks emails. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-packing-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-around-again/797916/114 "2017-10-05T13:59:40Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > Had Obama nominated someone like Gorsuch, I think the GOP actually would have Senate-confirmed him, yes. So Mitch McConnell is a liar? He explicitly stated that the Senate would not consider any Obama nominee. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-packing-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-around-again/797916/115 "2017-10-05T14:11:12Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > So Mitch McConnell is a liar? I think you know the answer to that. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-packing-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-around-again/797916/116 "2017-10-05T14:18:47Z")
It’s a fair cop. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-packing-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-around-again/797916/117 "2017-10-05T14:56:35Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > So Bork had a seat on the Supreme Court and they took it from him? Was Bork owed that seat? Did Bork have any claim whatsoever that the seat on the Supreme Court was his and only his? Why are you asking **Bricker**? **TimeWinder** is the one insisting that the President gets any Supreme Court appointment he wants. Regards, shodan ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-packing-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-around-again/797916/118 "2017-10-05T15:16:42Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > So Bork had a seat on the Supreme Court and they took it from him? Was Bork owed that seat? Did Bork have any claim whatsoever that the seat on the Supreme Court was his and only his? I’m adopting the convention used earlier in the thread that Merrick Garland’s seat was stolen. So if you seek answers to these questions, please direct them at the prior posters who claimed Garland’s seat was stolen. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-packing-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-around-again/797916/119 "2017-10-05T15:17:43Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > So Mitch McConnell is a liar? He explicitly stated that the Senate would not consider any Obama nominee. Yes. Mitch McConnell is a liar. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2017, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-packing-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-around-again/797916/120 "2017-10-05T15:43:35Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I’m adopting the convention used earlier in the thread that Merrick Garland’s seat was stolen. > > So if you seek answers to these questions, please direct them at the prior posters who claimed Garland’s seat was stolen. The seat was not stolen from Garland. The nomination was stolen from Obama. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-packing-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-around-again/797916.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/court-packing-an-idea-whose-time-has-come-around-again/797916.md?page=7)