McConnell's hypocrisy and extremism will lead to 11 Supreme Court seats and 4 New Senators...

[Woody]

Packing the courts is what fascists and dictators do when they take over power.

[GeneralMacArthur]

... He said, while advocating for an authoritarian subversion of the rule of law, all to get revenge on the segment of the population he despises.

The Republicans are subverting the rule of law as we speak.  What is our other option?  Please tell us, o wise one, what we are supposed to do to stop it.

There's no "revenge" here.  Court-packing and other similar proposals are necessary last-resort options to combat the Republican Party's absolute determination to impose permanent minority rule on the rest of the country and dismantle the constitutional balance of powers that has been the lifeblood of our democracy for centuries.

What the Republican Party is doing is completely indefensible and extremely dangerous.  Should we just lie down and let it happen?  Forget all the rules, forget all the norms, Trump can do whatever he wants with zero checks on his authority, Mitch McConnell can sabotage every knob and lever of government so only Republicans are able to rule, every single institution is hyper-politicized and rigged to protect Republican dominance, and they can get away with it all with absolute impunity because heaven forbid the Democrats should do anything that would subvert the rule of law?  There is no rule of law!. Trump and Mitch have spent the last four years burning every last one of those bridges.

[Benjamin Frank]

Packing the courts is what fascists and dictators do when they take over power.

Cool. That might even help the Democrats win over many Republican voters.

[John Dule]

... He said, while advocating for an authoritarian subversion of the rule of law, all to get revenge on the segment of the population he despises.

The Republicans are subverting the rule of law as we speak.  What is our other option?  Please tell us, o wise one, what we are supposed to do to stop it.

There's no "revenge" here.  Court-packing and other similar proposals are necessary last-resort options to combat the Republican Party's absolute determination to impose permanent minority rule on the rest of the country and dismantle the constitutional balance of powers that has been the lifeblood of our democracy for centuries.

What the Republican Party is doing is completely indefensible and extremely dangerous.  Should we just lie down and let it happen?  Forget all the rules, forget all the norms, Trump can do whatever he wants with zero checks on his authority, Mitch McConnell can sabotage every knob and lever of government so only Republicans are able to rule, every single institution is hyper-politicized and rigged to protect Republican dominance, and they can get away with it all with absolute impunity because heaven forbid the Democrats should do anything that would subvert the rule of law?  There is no rule of law!. Trump and Mitch have spent the last four years burning every last one of those bridges.

The GOP started the destruction of America. If you choose to finish it, the responsibility will be yours as well. Have fun.

[Alcibiades]

... He said, while advocating for an authoritarian subversion of the rule of law, all to get revenge on the segment of the population he despises.

The Republicans are subverting the rule of law as we speak.  What is our other option?  Please tell us, o wise one, what we are supposed to do to stop it.

There's no "revenge" here.  Court-packing and other similar proposals are necessary last-resort options to combat the Republican Party's absolute determination to impose permanent minority rule on the rest of the country and dismantle the constitutional balance of powers that has been the lifeblood of our democracy for centuries.

What the Republican Party is doing is completely indefensible and extremely dangerous.  Should we just lie down and let it happen?  Forget all the rules, forget all the norms, Trump can do whatever he wants with zero checks on his authority, Mitch McConnell can sabotage every knob and lever of government so only Republicans are able to rule, every single institution is hyper-politicized and rigged to protect Republican dominance, and they can get away with it all with absolute impunity because heaven forbid the Democrats should do anything that would subvert the rule of law?  There is no rule of law!. Trump and Mitch have spent the last four years burning every last one of those bridges.

The GOP started the destruction of America. If you choose to finish it, the responsibility will be yours as well. Have fun.

But what about if x years from now, people look back and say the destruction of America was precipitated by Democrats refusing to stand up to the GOP by meeting them on their own dirty terms? I can’t claim to see into the future, and it is possible court-packing or the like could backfire, but just a thought.

[Middle-aged Europe]

I have to admit that I do find it morbidly amusing that even before Trump or any of his officials have indicated whether they intend to nominate a RBG replacement before the election, McConnell is eager to announce his willingness to roll over and spread the legs. The Waylon Smithers of the Senate.

[American2020]

Since the Garland imbroglio there has been a bubbling debate on the left over how much to tinker with the Senate and the Supreme Court to redress what Democrats see as anti-majoritarian moves by McConnell and Republicans. The debate has pitted institutionalists against procedural radicals. McConnell will embolden the procedural radicals. Democrats are likely to become more united around several reforms that have divided them: ending the legislative filibuster, pushing through statehood for Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, and modifying the Supreme Court to include more justices.

Not everything in politics hyped by the media is as big a deal as it seems. But RBG’s death is one of those cases where it may be even more consequential than reported. It will certainly alter the makeup of the Supreme Court, but it could also alter the course of a presidential election, transform the Senate, and turbocharge the politics of procedural radicalism.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/19/how-rbgs-death-could-transform-washington-418208

[Middle-aged Europe]

Since the Garland imbroglio there has been a bubbling debate on the left over how much to tinker with the Senate and the Supreme Court to redress what Democrats see as anti-majoritarian moves by McConnell and Republicans. The debate has pitted institutionalists against procedural radicals. McConnell will embolden the procedural radicals. Democrats are likely to become more united around several reforms that have divided them: ending the legislative filibuster, pushing through statehood for Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, and modifying the Supreme Court to include more justices.

Not everything in politics hyped by the media is as big a deal as it seems. But RBG’s death is one of those cases where it may be even more consequential than reported. It will certainly alter the makeup of the Supreme Court, but it could also alter the course of a presidential election, transform the Senate, and turbocharge the politics of procedural radicalism.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/09/19/how-rbgs-death-could-transform-washington-418208

A possible scenario that could quickly become a likely one if Trump indeed nominates a RBG replacement prior to November 3.

Delaying the Supreme Court nomination in 2016 until after the election and reversing that position in 2020 would mean that there are no rules any longer. If it increases the political power of your "side" then it is implemented. Period.

Which also means that the political polarization of the last decade or two could have been merely a prelude to what is to come in the near future.

[The Free North]

If you wanted to expediently precipitate the demise of the United States, you couldn't do much better than enacting the proposals voiced in this thread by red avs.

Indeed. The destruction of the republic is near. They're just trying to escalate it. Rule of law? Useless....lets turn this into a fickle dictatorship instead

[Ancestral Republican]

I must say it's amusing to read yet another example of our yellow avatars' sudden, slovenly devotion to the "rule of law" when it becomes expedient for them.

Scratch a libertarian, and a fascist bleeds.

[GeneralMacArthur]

The GOP started the destruction of America. If you choose to finish it, the responsibility will be yours as well. Have fun.

If we don't finish it, the Republicans will.  Unless you think that this is the end and they're just going to let everything go back to normal now that they've won and definitely won't ever cheat again.

[John Dule]

I must say it's amusing to read yet another example of our yellow avatars' sudden, slovenly devotion to the "rule of law" when it becomes expedient for them.

Scratch a libertarian, and a fascist bleeds.

Scratch a Corbynite and an anti-Semite whines.

[7,052,770]

Packing the courts is what fascists and dictators do when they take over power.

Yes, that is what Republicans have done over the last 5 years.

[parochial boy]

Scrap the constitution and write a new one. That's what sensible countries have done when they realised the ones they had weren't working.

You can admire the founding fathers and at the same time recognise that the document they wrote was a good effort at a time where there were no other examples, but has still wound up as a demonstrably crap way of arranging the governance of an ostensibly democratic country.

[American2020]

https://twitter.com/JTHVerhovek/status/1307380890994122752

https://twitter.com/ForecasterEnten/status/1307378927573315586

[Badger]

If you wanted to expediently precipitate the demise of the United States, you couldn't do much better than enacting the proposals voiced in this thread by red avs.

Good. Alternatively, we can attempt to coexist with a brainwashed, authoritarian segment of the population that absolutely despises us, and is perfectly willing to subvert the rule of law and betray the rest of the nation to foreign adversaries.
What choice do we have?

... He said, while advocating for an authoritarian subversion of the rule of law, all to get revenge on the segment of the population he despises.

Have you been somehow failed to notice that the rule of law is literally been undermined, as in curb stop past the point of recognition, for the last several years?

What you expect is for Democrats and Republicans permanently and Forever remain ingrained in their respective roles of Charlie Brown and Lucy pulling away the football, and that democrats should just be happy and smile perpetually the situation, because actually fighting back might be unsettling to you.

[Former President tack50]

Scrap the constitution and write a new one. That's what sensible countries have done when they realised the ones they had weren't working.

You can admire the founding fathers and at the same time recognise that the document they wrote was a good effort at a time where there were no other examples, but has still wound up as a demonstrably crap way of arranging the governance of an ostensibly democratic country.

To be honest, as it happens in many other countries (including my own); the circumstances that led to the constitution being written in the first time are hardly repeatable and would fail miserably if it was tried in the present day.

I definitely can't see the current US political class rewriting the constitution in such a way that would be accepted by everyone from hardline Republicans to socialist Democrats (and a constitution needs to be accepted by a good supermajority of the population to be legitimate)

[parochial boy]

If you wanted to expediently precipitate the demise of the United States, you couldn't do much better than enacting the proposals voiced in this thread by red avs.

Good. Alternatively, we can attempt to coexist with a brainwashed, authoritarian segment of the population that absolutely despises us, and is perfectly willing to subvert the rule of law and betray the rest of the nation to foreign adversaries.
What choice do we have?

... He said, while advocating for an authoritarian subversion of the rule of law, all to get revenge on the segment of the population he despises.

Have you been somehow failed to notice that the Warlock is literally been undermined, as in curb stop past the point of recognition, for the last several years?

What you expect is for Democrats and Republicans permanently and Forever remain ingrained in their respective roles of Charlie Brown and Lucy pulling away the football, and that democrats should just be happy and smile perpetually the situation, because actually fighting back might be unsettling to you.

Yeah, I've no idea how they build a political consensus to create one either - but it doesn't change the fact that the existing American contitutions and democratic institutions and blindingly obviously not fit for purpose.

For a point of comparison, France got a new one in 1958. A time of political crisis for sure, but I'm not sure it was necessarily so much worse than what the US is going through now (and we got a new one in 1999, because the old one had been amended so many times that it was basically incomprehensible). The fact the US treats its constitution as if it is a religious document instead of a set of rules about how the country is governed is probably a big part of the reason why the US hasn't managed to create the sort of democratic institutions befitting of a 21st century country.

[Inmate Trump]

Packing the courts is what fascists and dictators do when they take over power.

And what is it when Republicans deny a sitting president a Supreme Court pick?




While we're at it, what is it when Republicans conspire with Russia to rig an election in their favor?

What is it when Republicans try to dismantle the Post Office months before an election that will see historic mail-in voting?

What is it when Republicans deny the severity, and in some cases even the existence, of a deadly virus that is currently ravaging our country?

What is it when Republicans dismantle healthcare during said pandemic?

You and your party are dishonest, anti-American, jackbooted thugs.  Your sole purpose is to troll liberals; you have no further ideals really...no common thread linking you all together.  All you guys want is get one over on liberals and to retain power by illegal means...because you're no longer able to win democratically.

[Brittain33]

Republicans haven't yet realized that what they're doing now really is going a step too far, and they've woken a giant that's been sleeping for way too long, that slept through lesser outrages and abuses of power by McConnell.

[WMS]

At this point, the hideous neofascist personality cult masquerading as the Republican Party has forfeited all legitimacy to govern anything. That goes for all of its supporters too. They need to be eradicated root and branch. Especially the Federalist Society judiciary.

At one time, I preferred DC being merged into Maryland. Now, I’m in favor of statehood because F you, that’s why, Trumpist @$$holes.

Delenda Est to the entire wretched, oligarchic, anti-democratic, traitorous lot of them.

[Badger]

Packing the courts is what fascists and dictators do when they take over power.

Yes, that is what Republicans have done over the last 5 years.

[mianfei]

A potential silver lining of court packing (which would be horrible for the country to be sure) could be the subdivision of the Ninth Circuit, which is WAY too big. California should probably have its own circuit at this point.

That’s not possible, because the law requires multiple states per circuit, maybe even three.

Even California and Hawaii (alongside territorial islands) would have a problem because sixteen judges would be from California and only one from Hawaii. Splitting to have the four Pacific States in a Twelfth Circuit, and Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Montana and Alaska in a new Ninth Circuit might be better. Alternatively, splitting off California, Arizona and Hawaii into a Twelfth Circuit and leaving Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska in the Ninth.

I’ve thought of a possibility of having one Justice from each Circuit for future Courts, or requiring all Justices to be from different states. This would necessitate a grandfather clause because there are currently states with multiple sitting Justices, but it would be interesting to see whether a law requiring greater geographic diversity (and given the rule that a President and Vice-President must be from different states there is consistency in the idea) would weaken the power of establishments in the judiciary. At present, both liberal and conservative wings of the Court are largely comprised of people from Northeastern law schools, and have been since the 1990s.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

Scrap the constitution and write a new one. That's what sensible countries have done when they realised the ones they had weren't working.

You can admire the founding fathers and at the same time recognise that the document they wrote was a good effort at a time where there were no other examples, but has still wound up as a demonstrably crap way of arranging the governance of an ostensibly democratic country.

Bold of you to assume we are a sensible country.

But so long as we have a constitution that allows interests of the minority to rule over the majority (some would call the alternative to this 'mob rule', but I don't think it particularly matters whether you're being torn limb from limb by a mob of 50 versus a mob of 100), there will never be sufficient support for crafting a new constitution. Maybe when the younger generations start to grow up and maybe give a damn for once, we can move towards progress or at least some damage control. But the United States is not going to be a recognizable power by the time that happens, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[ProudModerate2]

Packing the courts is what fascists and dictators do when they take over power.

Republicans have already packed state supreme courts.

Washington Post article ... https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/10/26/court-packing-republicans-states/