Let’s assume that the democrats win big in 2020 and Biden gets elected
Could the house come up with a new Judiciary Act for President Biden to allow him to appoint 2 more left leaning justices to the supreme court?
The House could, but it also has to pass the Senate.
If Dems don’t hold the House, take the Senate and win the presidency in 2020, not much will change. And that is very dangerous, indeed.
Court packing is theoretically possible but extremely difficult and sets a nasty precedent.
I’d rather impeach the justices and judges nominated by unindicted co-conspirator Donald John Trump.
IANAL but I believe that even if Trump, McConnell and every other Republican in Congress were indicted, convicted and jailed, you’d have to demonstrate grounds for impeachment based on the actions of the justice themselves. I don’t agree with many of Gorsuch’s views but I’ve seen nothing to suggest that he isn’t a solidly qualified jurist. Kavanaugh may be a different matter, but even that’d be an uphill battle.
The fact that it’s difficult to dislodge a sitting SCOTUS justice is,by and large, a feature rather than a bug to prevent excessive tampering by the other branches of government. Of course, that’s dependent on the other branches of government not in themselves being openly corrupt and collaborating to undermine the intended process to select and seat the justices in the first place.
Grounds for impeachment and conviction are whatever congress wants them to be. It could be that they don’t like the way they part their hair.
But practically speaking, packing the court or impeaching the justices is a nuclear option. I doubt the Dems would hold together for this process, let alone get any Republicans to cross the aisle.
The House has “sole power of impeachment” and the Senate has “sole power to try all impeachments”. They are the only arbiters of the criteria necessary to impeach and remove from office, other than the required votes. Being nominated by a criminal President and confirmed by a corrupt Senate is sufficient. I recognize that impeachment and removal from office is difficult, but it is the morally just action.
IMO it is not the just action. It would set an awful precedent for future disputes that should not be settled this way, leading to mob rule. Elections have consequences, even if those consequences suck. There are better ways to resolve the problems left in their wake.
It works both ways. The consequence of elections giving Democrats sufficient votes and political will would be the impeachment and removal from office of Trump’s judicial nominees.
Just as decreased liberty for increased security is not a worthy trade, neither is decreased justice for increased political expediency.
Which would lead to the same happening to the Dem’s judicial nominees the next time the election pendulum swings right. It’s not worth the turmoil, the unpredictability, and the retribution cycles.
Speculation and contemplation of this theme, regardless of the source, is a rallying cry for the right and a call-to-arms* for far-right extremists. “Here’s why we can’t let THEM undermine OUR progress (and destroy…blah, blah, blah)…”
–G!
*Second-Amendment style arms, no less!
In his second term Franklin Roosevelt tried to increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court. It was a spectacular turd of an idea then, and it still is.
You’re a reasonable person and I respect that it’s not worth it to you, but it is worth it to me. I feel it’s time for the full power of democracy and law be levied against Trumpists.
I’m happy to fill our ample prison space with those who would wage war against the United States.
How did FDR plan to do that?
There is no chance that the Dems get enough Senate seats to start impeaching (at least the removing from office bit, which is presumably the part you care about) Republicans / Republican-appointed judges at random.
Ask Congress to pass a law increasing the size of the Court
From Wikipedia: "The Judiciary Act of 1869, sometimes called the Circuit Judges Act of 1869, a United States statute, provided that the Supreme Court of the United States would consist of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight associate justices, established separate judgeships for the U.S. circuit courts, and for the first time included a provision allowing federal judges to retire without losing their salary.[1] This is the most recent legislation altering the size of the Supreme Court. "
Hunh. I’m surprise the size hasn’t increased before. The party controlling Congress could do it whenever they disagreed with a ruling.
Here you go. Another thing they didn’t teach in school until you got into 300-level political science courses
And, from your cite -
So even a not-terribly-credible threat was enough. Although neither Trump nor any further President is likely to be in office long enough to appoint more than one or two Justices.
Regards,
Shodan