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Democrats renew calls to pack Supreme Court after recent rulings

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The Supreme Court upset more than a handful of lawmakers and activists on the American left with several of the recent rulings from its latest term. Now, Democrats are reviving their calls to “pack the court,” hoping to pressure Congress and the president to expand the high court and fill the new vacancies with justices who line up with the party’s worldview.

The court’s rulings in several high-profile cases — including Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, and West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency — led to repeated criticism of the “conservative” court. Activists on the left renewed their demands that the Democratic Party, while it has control of both houses of Congress and the White House, add seats to the Supreme Court and fill them with political allies.

Control of federal courts, particularly the high court, is one of the biggest political issues for both parties. Justices serve lifetime appointments, so they have the potential to issue rulings for decades that will impact multiple generations.

Changing the size of the Supreme Court is not unheard of. The U.S. Constitution set no limit on the size of the court, which means the decision is up to Congress. In fact, Congress has acted to expand or contract the size of the court seven times in U.S. history, according to the Constitution Center.

The high court was initially designed in 1789 to have a chief justice and five associate justices. Since then, the court has had as few as five justices, which it did during the time of President John Adams. At its largest, the court had 10 justices under President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War.

The number of Supreme Court justices has remained at nine since 1869, though President Franklin D. Roosevelt did threaten to pack the court in 1937 after suffering a unanimous defeat on one of his Depression-era programs.

Democrats note that since 1869, the U.S. population has grown more than 10-fold, which they say justifies expanding the size of the court.

Republicans, on the other hand, see the push as a purely political maneuver by a party that has had failed to secure legislative wins and hopes to see its agenda enacted via judicial fiat.

One person Democrats need to get on board but have failed to secure support from so far is President Joe Biden. He has repeatedly stated that he opposes expanding the Supreme Court, and he reiterated that stance last week, even in the wake of the Bruen and Dobbs rulings, ABC News reported.

MAHMOUD BENNETT: THE SUPREME COURT HAS 9 JUSTICES
– AND SINCE IT TOOK A CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY UNDER PRESIDENT TRUMP DEMOCRATS HAVE BEEN CALLING FOR IT TO BE EXPANDED

MEANING MORE JUSTICES

CONTROL OF THE HIGH COURT IS ONE OF THE BIGGEST ISSUES FOR THE COUNTRY BECAUSE *remember* JUSTICES SERVE FOR A LIFETIME – THAT MEANS THEY CAN ISSUE RULINGS THAT IMPACT AMERICA FOR GENERATIONS

SO CAN THE COURT BE EXPANDED?

THE SIMPLE ANSWER IS YES.
IN FACT, IT’S BEEN DONE 7 TIMES IN U.S. HISTORY – THE CONSTITUTION DOES NOT SET A LIMIT ON THE HIGH COURT’S SIZE – EFFECTIVELY LEAVING IT UP TO CONGRESS

*AND THE NUMBER HAS FLUCTUATED* WE’VE HAD AS A FEW AS 6 JUSTICES UNDER WASHINGTON AND AS MANY AS 10 UNDER PRESIDENT LINCOLN

THE LAST LIMIT OF 9 JUSTICES WAS SET IN 1869 – AND SINCE THEN THE U.S. POPULATION HAS GROWN BY MORE THAN 10 TIMES

THAT’S WHY SOME DEMOCRATS SAY – EXPANDING THE COURT MAKES SENSE

WHILE REPUBLICANS SEE THE PUSH AS POLITICAL – GIVEN THAT DEMOCRATS HAVE FAILED TO MAKE SIGNIFICANT WINS THROUGH THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH

AND WHILE PRESIDENT BIDEN DISMISSED THE IDEA ENTIRELY – IT HASN’T STOPPED SOME INTERESTING PROPOSALS FROM MAKING HEADLINES. WE’LL BREAK IT DOWN IN OUR NEXT VIDEO