A lot of Democrats are talking about adding two to three new justices to the Supreme Court if Biden wins and Democrats take control of Congress.
IMO, trying to pack the court wouldn't help Democrats. It would exacerbate the hostility, and result in Republicans retaliating in kind. It might even result in secession attempts by Republican controlled states, and perhaps a civil war.
(To illustrate, imagine that Trump wins re-election, and Republicans also retain control of the Senate and House (unlikely, but theoretically possible)--how would Democrats respond if Republicans added two or three more justices to the court?)
Instead, I recommend that the Democrats advocate for de-politicizing the Supreme Court.
There are a variety of ways that de-politicizing the court might work.
For example, if it were up to me, I'd limit the terms of Court appointments to 20 years. And I'd make the selection process based on sortition, from a pool of the top 100 judges as voted upon by all judges nationwide. That way, turnover in the court would happen in a predictable fashion (instead of depending on the somewhat random death or retirement of the Justices). And, over time, the ideology of the Justices would reflect roughly those of the country as a whole.
If the Democrats were to advocate for something like that, I'd be in enthusiastic support (as would, I suspect, a lot of Republicans).
[Inspired by discussion with Edwin Urey, Adam Katz, and Jeremy Tunnell]
IMO, trying to pack the court wouldn't help Democrats. It would exacerbate the hostility, and result in Republicans retaliating in kind. It might even result in secession attempts by Republican controlled states, and perhaps a civil war.
(To illustrate, imagine that Trump wins re-election, and Republicans also retain control of the Senate and House (unlikely, but theoretically possible)--how would Democrats respond if Republicans added two or three more justices to the court?)
Instead, I recommend that the Democrats advocate for de-politicizing the Supreme Court.
There are a variety of ways that de-politicizing the court might work.
For example, if it were up to me, I'd limit the terms of Court appointments to 20 years. And I'd make the selection process based on sortition, from a pool of the top 100 judges as voted upon by all judges nationwide. That way, turnover in the court would happen in a predictable fashion (instead of depending on the somewhat random death or retirement of the Justices). And, over time, the ideology of the Justices would reflect roughly those of the country as a whole.
If the Democrats were to advocate for something like that, I'd be in enthusiastic support (as would, I suspect, a lot of Republicans).
[Inspired by discussion with Edwin Urey, Adam Katz, and Jeremy Tunnell]