The Senate just confirmed Trump's far-right nominee to the Supreme Court. I won't lie, this is a dark day for our country. But there is a way out: we have to expand the court.
The stakes are enormous. Just yesterday Mitch McConnell made it explicit when he said "A lot of what we've done over the last four years will be undone sooner or later by the next election. They won't be able to do much about [confirming Barrett] for a long time to come."1
But he's wrong. Expanding the Supreme Court is the way we can protect our democracy, our rights, and our way of life. It is how we stop Trump's values and policies from dominating our country long after he's left office. Now is the time to tell Congress they must expand the court.
Sign the petition: Tell Congress to expand the court and protect our rights and freedoms!
The constitution gives Congress the power to decide the size of the federal courts. In the past, the Supreme Court has varied in size, sometimes having less than nine members and sometimes having more.2
When Jimmy Carter was president, he signed into law the largest expansion of the federal courts in history.3
With a 6-3 majority, the far right is lining up cases that they will push to the Supreme Court. Barrett is poised to be part of a new majority that will rule on abortion rights, corporate power, contraception, immigration, gerrymandering, and the 2020 election itself.
We cannot just sit back and watch as the Trump majority on the Supreme Court destroys decades of case law and reinterprets the constitution in a far-right way.
Expanding the courts doesn't mean an endless arms race between left and right. As Jamelle Bouie wrote in the New York Times recently:
"The promise of retaliation can bring a new equilibrium. Expand the court, nullify the conservative advantage — show that all of the games and scheming were in vain — and you may create the space for an acceptable compromise around the scope and power of the judiciary."1
If Congress doesn't fight back, they will let Trump and Mitch McConnell tilt our federal court system to the radical right for a generation or more. But after the election, Congress can tip the scale back into balance by adding more seats to the Supreme Court.
Congress needs to do its job -- and its duty -- to stop the right-wing assault on our courts and prevent Trump and McConnell from sabotaging the next president.
Sign the petition: Tell Congress to expand the seats on the Supreme Court!
Sources:
1. The Guardian, "'They won't be able to do anything about this': McConnell revels in Barrett supreme court vote," October 25, 2020.
2. KIRO, "Supreme Court: Changing number of justices not a new idea," October 9, 2020.
3. The American Prospect, "What Joe Biden Can Learn From Jimmy Carter," June 28, 2020.
4. New York Times, "Oh, Now You Believe in Norms," October 13, 2020.