this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2023
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A) They need 50 senators willing to entertain that notion. They only have 49. B) If there were one action that I think would be most likely to kick off Civil War 2, it would be packing the court.
Civil War 2 is already happening, you must not be paying attention.
It's time to rip off the fucking band-aid and do something about it instead of letting the Proud Boys, the Three Percenters, and others run around terrorizing the country through wanton violence and death.
With that being said, you’re also correct that voting is NOT enough. Protesting and direct action, mutual aid, and more are all required!
They are not completely within their power to pack the court, sadly. They would have done so already if this were the case. They need 60 in the senate as well as a majority in the house and the presidency. Then they could.
Technically, they don't need 60. The cloture rule is what necessitates a 3/5ths supermajority to pass bills, but the cloture rule is not itself a law and so Senators can just... change it with a simple-majority vote. This has already happened twice in the recent past: once in 2013 when the Democrat-led Senate voted to eliminate the cloture rule when nominating federal circuit judges and once more in 2017 when the Ruplican-led Senate voted to eliminate the cloture rule when nominating supreme court justices.
FWIW: Senators tend to really hate doing this. They call it the "nuclear option" because they normally like to get a 2/3rds supermajority agreement before changing any standing Senate rules -- not to mention that the cloture rule itself is often treated as a total third-rail even among the other important Senate procedures. Combining the nuclear option and killing cloture is a massive political powderkeg waiting to explode... but maybe it should?
I guess full throated fascism and authoritarianism isn't enough to consider a "nuclear option."
It's a shared norm. Part of the deal is an implied promise that the other guys also ignore the big red button. Really, though... that ship had already sailed years ago leaving the cloture rule to hang on by the barest of threads. I'm half-convinced that the current Senate would have already done away with it if only they had a slightly more reliable voting margin.
IMO: cloture is a dumb rule because we already have a robust system of checks thanks to our bicameral legislature plus presidential veto. The requirement for a 2/3rd supermajority in addition to these for regular everyday business is odious and something that no other large democracy does. I'm anti-gridlock on principle alone, even if I acknowledge the absolute chaos it will probably plunge the Senate into for the next dozen years or so.
I'm fairly sure they would need the house to expand the court and add more justices.
I'm still not sure they had that option. It was something mentioned in various campaign platforms, and dems are very upset about current events with it. We might see some movement prior to elections? Not sure.
The House is not needed to appoint justices, but the size of the Supreme Court is set by federal law, and you need the House to change that law to go beyond nine justices.
Unfortunately the dems do not have a true majority in the senate either. It hasn't been as easy as we hoped to get everyone on the same page.
I like how when Democrats are in power, they're unable to do anything...
But when Republicans are in power, they break the law at lightning speed, do things they're not supposed to do, and nobody stops them because actually the only thing staying in their way are "rules" and "decorum" and not "laws" and yet mysteriously the Democrats are always beholden to "laws" that prevent them from doing the same. Also it seems like Democrats hands are tied at actually bringing criminal charges against Republicans because that would be "partisan."^1 Just look at how they've slow-walked Trump's prosecution and only went for it when it became clear he would never comply.
It's a fucking farce.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAbab8aP4_A
Wouldn't the Rs just do the same thing next time they have power? I get what you're saying, but isn't setting that precedent dangerous?
You're saying that as if the Rs won't do the same thing anyway without prior provocation. They've literally already broken the law to pack the court and the Democrats sat on their hands. They denied Obama picking a justice because it was "too close to an election" when the election was like six months away, but let Trump pick one when an election was already underway.
Take off the fucking blinders, the Republicans already do these kind of things.
They already set the precedent.
Fair enough.
Yes- the court is an illegitimate anti-democratic institution and the long-term goal should be its abolishment.
It is the final tool of the American oligarchs to prevent needed structural change in the country.
Anything to highlight this is a good thing. Playing ping-pong with court expansion would be great to accelerate its necessary demise.
I agree
R's don't care about precedent. That's why they actually get what they want. If Democrats actually got things done, they would consistently win elections and it would be be an issue anyway.
It's not going to happen anyway, though.
Voting put three justices in-place with last president.
Of course it upsets the Dems knowing that they're on the only side that has to govern well and we honest.
But the alternative is for our side to be as much of a malignant tumor on the country as the other side is.
I'll take this version of the Democratic party, despite the fact the Republicans are trying to destroy the US and rebuild it in their own image.
Joe Manchin sure does. Nancy Pelosi sure does. Chuck Schumer sure does.
Oopsie poopsie.