At the Vice Presidential Debate last night V.P. Mike Pence went off-script (i.e. not answering the moderator’s question but creating a new subject he could expound on) by pressing his opponent Kamala Harris to respond to the question: “If Joe Biden wins, will the Democrats attempt to pack the Supreme Court?”
We’ve heard that one before. Actually, President Donald Trump posed the same question to Mr. Biden at the First Presidential Debate awhile back.
Neither Biden nor Harris took the bait, keeping all options readily available if they win in November.
One of the few major campaign promises that Donald Trump has kept as President is his stated intent to re-mold the Judiciary with Conservative judges. He and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have done this with gusto. Their current project is to ramrod the nomination of judge Amy Coney Barrett through the Senate confirmation process before the end of the year.
Of course, approving a new Supreme Court Justice in an election year was, according to Senator McConnell in 2016, unfathomable, because “that decision should be left to the voters”. Accordingly, he in essence “pocket vetoed” President Obama’s nomination, conveniently keeping the Supreme Court balance tilted in a Conservative direction.
Now that Republicans control the Senate and the White House, McConnell has changed his tune big time, and is doing his darnedest to fit Mrs. Barrett with Supreme Court robes before the voters have a chance to say, “Whoa, Nellie!”
Mrs. Barrett’s expected confirmation will give Conservatives a solid majority for decades and will likely spell the end of “Roe vs. Wade” (legal abortion), Obamacare, civil rights, and environmental regulations and more favorable treatment regarding the treatment of religion (Christian), Republican voter suppression schemes, and gun rights.
That is, these things will happen unless Congress and the Presidency go solid Democratic in 2020.
Then, the Democrats would “have the votes”. And, per Senator McConnell, if you have the votes you can do anything you want.
A Democratic Party-controlled Congress can pass laws which clarify previously-regulated matters. The Supreme Court has been accused of making law, instead of simply interpreting it. If Congress passes definitive legislation, it leaves very little room for the Court to re-engineer it.
A Democratic Party-controlled Congress can also tinker with the makeup of the Supreme Court by adding Justices. This tactic would be the “Court packing” item that both President Trump and Vice President Pence tried to surface during their debates. Republicans are worried about this because it is permitted under the Constitution and it has been done six times in the past. The Supreme Court would have a tough time determining that it would be un-Constitutional.
In order for Democrats to seriously consider such a gambit, they would have to win the Presidency handily and would also have to regain the majority in the Senate. With three weeks left in the 2020 campaign, the former is possible and the latter is doubtful.
It will be interesting to see what develops following the November 3rd election.
