Democrats need to make reforming SCOTUS a top issue in 2024!

The GOP court is corrupt and partisan.

There’s simply no way that any Democrat running in 2024 for federal office can credibly tell us they will fight for reproductive freedom, equality for the LGBTQ community, preventing discrimination against people of color, saving lives from gun violence, protecting voting rights and even addressing climate if they do not make reforming the Supreme Court a top priority.

The reason is simple: The GOP controlled Supreme Court--in less than two years –has rendered politically motivated decisions on all those issues that has dangerously moved us backwards as a nation. How can a Democratic candidate not seek to reform the very institution that has caused so much pain with these decisions?!

For example, last year the Supreme Court struck down the 50-year precedent of Roe v. Wade, thus, empowering GOP religious fundamentalists in 14 states to ban abortion from conception—generally with no exceptions for rape or incest. There are also the six week abortion bans in other GOP states that go into effect before most women know they are pregnant.

Just two weeks ago, the six GOP Supreme Court justices legalized discrimination against the LGBTQ community with reasoning that could result in expanding discrimination to deny service to people of color.  These right-wing activists—posing as judges—also ended affirmative action for colleges and struck down President Biden’s student loan cancellation program—all exactly as GOP officials had been clamoring for.

In addition, these same GOP justices weakened the Voting Rights Act and greatly restricted the ability of the EPA to address climate change.

And in a case that will literally result in more Americans being killed by gun violence, these same six Justices—five of which were appointed by GOP presidents who lost the popular vote—struck down in 2022 a century old New York state law that limited who can carry a concealed weapon.  Justice Thomas—in between lavish vacations and gifts from his billionaire benefactor—wrote in that case that modern gun control laws must be “consistent with the Second Amendment’s text and historical understanding.”

This sweeping language has since resulted in lower courts striking down long-standing gun safety laws. The most alarming example being a February 2023 decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals which ruled that a federal law barring those under domestic violence restraining orders from owning a gun was unconstitutional given that 2022 Supreme Court ruling. This undermines a crucial tool that survivors have in protecting themselves from their abusers given that the risk of homicide in a domestic violence situation increases by 500% if a gun is present.

The right-wing decisions-in many cases—cannot be rectified by new federal or state laws given the six GOP justices will strike them down. For example, the recent Supreme Court case involving a web designer seeking to deny services to a same sex couples was in violation of Colorado’s anti-discrimination law. However, the six GOP justices in essence carved out an exception to that state law because they believe that religious beliefs give you the right to discriminate.  The right-wing zealots on the court will not allow laws to stand in their way of their partisan goals.

President Biden understands that what we are seeing is alarming, stating after the recent Supreme Court rulings: “This is not a normal court.” Yet he still opposed any expansion of the court, commenting a few weeks ago on MSNBC’s Nicole Wallace show, “I think if we start the process of trying to expand the court, we’re going to politicize it maybe forever in a way that is not healthy.”

However, we are way, way beyond possible politicization of this court. And that is not just my opinion. A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that nearly 7 in 10 registered voters believe the Supreme Court is “mainly motivated by politics.”  Only about a quarter of voters believe the Supreme Court is “mainly motivated by the law.” 

The sense that this current court is nothing more than a political arm of the GOP-together with the corruption of Justices Thomas and lack of ethics rules—likely all contributed to that same poll finding just 30 percent of registered voters approved of the nation’s highest court, while 59 percent disapproved. (Only 10 percent of Democrats surveyed approved of the court’s job compared to 53 percent Republicans.) That is the lowest approval since Quinnipiac began polling on this issue nearly 20 years ago.

Another poll from last month backed that up—with confidence in the Supreme Court dropping to its lowest point in at least 50 years.

Biden and Democrats in 2024 can actually offer the idea of “reforming” the court in a way that does not appear to be just about partisan goals—but about increasing confidence in the nation’s top court. For starters, championing new strict ethics law so that no one can influence the justices with vacations and gifts is vitally needed and would find broad support.

Reform can also mean advocating “term limits” for justices—which polls show is supported by 67 percent of Americans. Although there are questions if this is actually constitutional—with many legal scholars raising red flags.

However, expanding the court is 100 percent constitutional. The Constitution established a Supreme Court, yet empowered Congress to determine the details, including its size. In fact the Supreme Court’s size has changed various times after originally being created by the Judiciary Act of 1789 with just six justices. At its largest, the Supreme Court was ten seats during the Civil War and then reduced to seven shortly thereafter.

Interestingly, President Ulysses Grant increased the Court to nine seats in 1868 after it ruled “greenback” paper currency unconstitutional, giving him two extra appointments. The newly constituted Court reheard the case and reversed.

Some have advocated expanding the top court to 13 justices---one to match each of the 13 federal courts of appeals. Others—like my friend Elie Mystal—want to see a larger pool of justices such as 20 or more—and from there nine justices would be randomly picked for each case.  This is not about packing the court but about rehabilitating the court so people can believe that it’s a court, not a political arm of either party.

To those-like the countless callers to my SiriusXM show—who want Biden to make court reform one of the top issues, this is the time to making your voice heard.  Despite Biden recently rejecting court expansion, one of the great things about Biden is that he evolves on issues for the better when there has been a chorus of Democrats advocating such a change.

We most recently saw this on student loan debt cancellation. As a candidate in 2020, Biden supported cancelling only $10,000 of student loan debt and wanted Congress to do this by law. However, a concerted effort by Senator Liz Warren as well as Black leaders in Congress like House Majority Whip James Clyburn moved Biden on the issue. That is why in August 2022, Biden agreed to the cancellation of up to $20,000 in loans for lower income borrowers and took that action by way of executive order.  Of course, the six GOP justices just ruled that program was invalid—just as GOP leaders were seeking.

We should use our voices to move Biden--and other Democrats--to make reforming a highly partisan, corrupt Supreme Court a top priority in the 2024 race. If Biden and Democrats do just that, it will send a powerful message to all that Democrats are committed to using every possible means to protect our freedoms and democracy. That is how you inspire Democratic voters and our allies to turn out big in 2024.

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