COMMISSION TO STUDY PACKING THE COURT:

In April 2021, President Biden signed an Executive Order for a bi-partisan Commission to study potential reforms to the U.S. Supreme Court, in which they released their primary findings last Thursday. The document that was released is merely a rough draft of their findings, not the final report.

Last Thursday, the bipartisan commission said there are “considerable” risks to expanding the number of justices on the Supreme Court, including the potential to undermine the high court’s legitimacy. The commission discussed a variety of topics, including “Setting the Stage: The Genesis of the Reform Debate and the Commission’s Mission;” “Membership and Size of the Court;” “Term Limits;” “The Court’s Role in the Constitutional System;” and “Case Selection and Review: Docket, Rules, and Practices.”

Even though the Commission did not take positions on the proposals featured Thursday, they highlighted potential drawbacks and advantages. This included a cautionary note about adding justices to the bench.  In the document the Commission released, it said, “Court expansion is likely to undermine, rather than enhance, the Supreme Court’s legitimacy and its role in the constitutional system, and there are significant reasons to be skeptical that expansion would serve democratic values,” the report said, later adding, “Court expansion today could lead to a continuous cycle of future expansions.”

According to the Washington Post, “… the commission cautioned that increasing the size of the court would be perceived as partisan maneuvering with significant consequences for the court and its future. It would not only be perceived that way; it would be that way, and with massive untold consequences … packing the court would indeed set the court (which has had no more than nine justices for 150 years) on a path of no return…The report says this would threaten the court’s “long-term legitimacy or otherwise undermine its role in our legal system” by creating a system in which the court is repeatedly expanded to suit political purposes.

The Washington Post also stated that it has cited that Democrats want 29 Justices added to the bench within the next 50 years. That suggested number is a drastic one and most likely will not become a reality. Other reports indicate they want 13 Justices now, which means adding 4 more to the bench.

When the Commission released their primary findings last week, it caused the Far-Left of the political spectrum to be outraged and see that the findings are not moving in their favor; in which, they claim the results were “fixed.” Commission Co-Chairman Bob Bauer, a former White House Counsel to former President Barack Obama, attempted to calm everyone down by stating, “The commission has not edited the material and the material should not be understood to represent the commission’s views or those of any particular commissioner,” Bauer said. “To this point and particularly in light of some confusion and uncertainty since the posting of these materials, we refer you to the front page of each of the drafts that have been publicly posted that clearly set forth these points.”

According to the Washington Times, the Commission is scheduled to deliver a final report to Biden by mid-November.

AREA OF CONCERN:

Americans need to understand: our Justices’ job is not to legislate or create law from the bench. They are not to interpret law according to political ideologies and lenses. Their job is to interpret and uphold the law in accordance with the U.S. Constitution. Our Founding Fathers created three branches of government: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial. The Supreme Court is insulated. Meaning they do not make law nor make Executive decisions like the Executive and Legislative Branch. Our Founding Fathers made the Judicial Branch independent from the politics, as it should be.

American Constitution Society (which is a Progressive, Far-Left leaning organization) released a statement of their concern pertaining to the bi-partisan Commission’s findings on packing the Supreme Court. The President of ACS, Russ Feingold, stated that there was lack of support from the Commission’s proposal because the Supreme Court will result in “continuing to strip away our constitutional rights and undermine our democratic legitimacy as a country.”

We are unaware by what Mr. Feingold means when he says the Supreme Court is stripping away our Constitutional Rights and undermining our democratic legitimacy as a country. The Supreme Court’s job is to interpret and uphold the Law in accordance with the U.S. Constitution. They are upholding the Rule of Law, not politics. One thing that must stop is the politicization of our Judicial Branch. Just because one political party does not like how judges are ruling, doesn’t mean they should turn the judicial branch upside down in order to get what they want. There are Checks and Balances in place.

The concern we, at Freedom’s Fund USA, have with packing the Court is the shift of power from within. We have a polarizing government right now. Currently, there are leaders who are behaving tyrannically as they push a well-crafted Marxist agenda. Would the justices that the current President appoint be trained Marxists? Would they be able to set the politics aside and actually interpret law in accordance with the United States Constitution?  Based on what we are seeing in America and the aggressive Communist, Marxist agenda that is sweeping the nation, one has to ask: if the Supreme Court is packed, would the newly appointed Justices make rulings based on politics and not in accordance with the Law? If that is the case, then we will have witnessed the undermining of the legitimacy of the Supreme Court.

It is true that more Justices can be added to the bench. Our U.S. Constitution does not provide a limited number of Justices. According to the U.S. Constitution, Congress has the power to establish the Court System according to Article 3 Section 1, which says, ““The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.” Therefore, the coming weeks will be interesting to watch whether or not President Biden adheres to the Commission’s findings in November or if he will ignore the Commission and kick this issue to Congress.