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Major Update at the US Supreme Court
You know friends, with the Supreme Court continuing to rule in ways that often violate the express text of the Constitution, it's time to do more than just talk about expanding the number of justices on the Supreme Court. It's time to prepare for the fight that lies ahead to expand the number of Supreme Court justices, as I just discussed with my friend and partner in The Legal Breakdown Brian Tyler Cohen.
As Brian persuasively argues in this new book, "The Day After: How to Wield Power in a Post-Trump World":
"The first order of a filibuster free Congress should be reform of the Supreme Court. Not the second or third or fourth, it will be too late to save the Republic and our independent judiciary. If any subsequent reforms are to stand a chance at surviving, we cannot leave in place a rogue branch of government with the power to strike down anything that doesn't import with its far right ideology."
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All the star power in our party and the DNC and it's left to an independent journalist Brian Tyler Cohen to strategize the landscape ahead when a Democratic Congress and President meet SCOTUS-6R. Everything Dems do will be invalidated.
Dems need to stride forward and let the chips fall, let Republicans balk, just like they did to us.
Fiendish Thingy
(24,592 posts)There can be no restoration of lost rights and no repairing of the damage and destruction of the Trump era without first expanding the court and killing the filibuster to do so.
P.S. BTC is not an independent journalist - AFAIK, he does not do any original source reporting, he makes his living as a clickbait merchant and rage farmer, albeit from a progressive perspective.
bucolic_frolic
(56,421 posts)Clickbait merchant? No, just no.
Fiendish Thingy
(24,592 posts)He doesnt do any original source reporting, he just comments on and reacts to stories in the news.
If he meets the definition of independent journalist, then every person who posts on DU is an independent journalist too.
thesquanderer
(13,179 posts)Wonder Why
(7,467 posts)The solution is true reform of the Court. Lying during appointment hearings should be specifically a reason for removal as should the grift of taking money for speeches, book writing, not putting one's money in a blind trust while being paid a federal salary. Tax returns for all high level government positions should be required to be published within 6 months of the filing date. Failure to honor their two oaths of office is grounds for impeachment.
It's not the number but the character, honesty, ethics and morality of the Justices that is the problem.
Fiendish Thingy
(24,592 posts)Dems must never again govern out of fear of what republicans might do if they regain power.
The bigger the court, the less influence any single Justice has, and the more difficult it is to form reliable, consistent voting blocs.
We must live in reality - no Justice will ever be removed from office when the threshold to do so is so high.
Ill repeat myself in case you didnt read it clearly the first time:
There can be NO restoration of lost rights and NO repairing the damage and destruction of the Trump era until the court is expanded, and the filibuster is killed to do so.
THAT is the reality we face, not some imagined oh no, the republicans will do it too doomer fantasy - we are already living through the worst nightmare in the history of the nation since the Civil War, and now is the time for courage, not cowardice.
Nothing else matters.
delisen
(7,519 posts)I need this type of commentary which synthesizes and can also suggest paths forward.
Otherwise it seems like just a constant barrage of crises and separate disaster points. I think it keeps us from focusing.
We are in a war, Winning a war takes focus, strategy , and planning.
Just reacting to every explosion keeps us constantly on the defensive.
ekelly
(430 posts)kentuck
(116,169 posts)