Embracing Supreme Court Expansion Carries No Political Cost, Study Says
Expanding the Supreme Court, an increasingly popular reform among some progressive activists, is not politically costly for Democrats, according to an academic survey commissioned by a group that supports the idea.
The study documented reactions to the idea among 2,400 Democrats, Republicans and independents from the political swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin and Minnesota. It was conducted by political scientist Aaron Belkin from San Francisco State University and James Druckman of Northwestern Universitys Institute for Policy Research. Druckman, a public opinion expert, designed the study, while the funding came from Take Back the Court, a progressive judicial reform group that Belkin runs.
The survey asked participants to react to two different Democrat-Republican matchups. The first was a status quo group pitting a standard Democratic candidate who wants to expand health care access, repeal President Donald Trumps tax cuts, regulate guns and fight climate change against a Republican candidate who holds inverse positions but also wants to reshape the judiciary.
In a second matchup, survey participants evaluated a court expansion matchup between a hypothetical Republican candidate and a hypothetical Democratic candidate. In that scenario, the Democrat would propose expanding the court to make it more representative of America, bring greater balance to the court, and prevent the domination of the Supreme Court by a single political party, according to the study. The Republican candidate would call the idea a threat to the independence of the judiciary and the rights of all Americans by radical liberals trying to change the rules so a few cities in New York and California can impose their will on the rest of us.
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5e4a1652c5b64d860fccca4b
lapfog_1
(29,219 posts)that we now have 19 members of SCOTUS.
oh wait...
SunSeeker
(51,659 posts)FDR did not have a SCOTUS seat stolen from him. It was harder for him to justify packing the Court at that point. But after the GOP theft of an Obama appointment, and Trump's FBI's refusal to even interview Kavanaugh's accusers, Dem court packing is warranted.
lapfog_1
(29,219 posts)SunSeeker
(51,659 posts)Duh.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)The Government Of Putin (GOP) must be blocked from ever getting their sticky fingers on any lever of power ever again.
And yes, we should absolutely expand the Court. And then enact term limits, once we have enough young Justices to keep it safe.
KPN
(15,649 posts)better approach would be to impeach Kavanaugh. Hold a real investigation and then impeach him, including looking into the quos pro quo btwn Stevens and tRump/McConnell.
amywalk
(254 posts)in a hot minute if the roles were reversed.
KPN
(15,649 posts)Democrats. The maelstrom keeps us too busy and preoccupied with other things. Thats tRumps and his GoonsOP strategy overwhelm the adversary with too much bullshit to muster organized response to.
dware
(12,423 posts)and remove Kavanaugh, that's just a pipe dream.