国会民主党人周四提出立法，将最高法院从9名法官扩大到13名，称这样做将恢复法院的完整性，并扭转他们所说的参议院共和党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔、他的共和党同事以及时任总统犯下的错误唐纳德·特朗普他的三个提名巩固了保守党的多数席位，可能会延续几代人。
马萨诸塞州参议员爱德华·马基(Edward Markey)在介绍2021年《司法法案》(Judiciary Act of 2021)时说:“法院是坏的，毫无疑问，法院是坏的，因为参议员米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)、他的参议院共和党同事和唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)打破了法院。”
他抨击麦康奈尔拒绝在2016年前几个月考虑让当时的法官梅里克·加兰接替已故的法官安东宁·斯卡利亚选举只是在2020年选举日的前几天，在自由派偶像大法官鲁思·巴德·金斯伯格去世后，成功地让保守派大法官艾米·科尼·巴雷特就职。
“他们的所作所为没有任何正当理由。当法院被如此严重地政治操纵时，美国人怎么能看着它并期望它伸张正义——伸张平等的正义?”众议院司法委员会主席杰罗德·纳德勒是该法案的共同提案人，他问道，“有些人会说我们在收拾法院。我们不打包。我们正在拆包。参议员麦康奈尔和共和党人在过去几年里把它打包了。”
众议员纳德勒在谈到他扩大最高法院的法案时说:“随着我们国家的发展，最高法院也应该发展。13个巡回法院的13名大法官是一个逻辑进程...并纠正包装法院的巨大不公正。”https://t.co/Z1gC6BePs8pic.twitter.com/sb0gJGEFMA
——美国广播公司新闻政治(@美国广播公司政治)2021年4月15日
马基和他的民主党同僚站在最高法院的台阶上，认为国会“必须扩大法院，我们必须废除阻挠议事”，尽管民主党目前在自己的党内缺乏对这一举措的支持。
共和党人在该提案公布前就对其进行了严厉批评，参议院共和党领袖米奇·麦康奈尔(Mitch McConnell)表示，即使立法的威胁，尽管几乎不可能通过，也是民主党计划的关键部分。
“这不仅仅是这个疯狂的法案能否成为法律的问题。这里有一部分是威胁本身。麦康奈尔认为:“当法官们权衡每一个案件的事实时，左派想要一把悬在他们头上的剑。
“威胁是关键。劫持人质是关键，政界负责任的人有责任谴责这种行为。，在参议院发言中说。
共和党参议员林赛·格雷厄姆称之为“可怕的想法”
“稳定是我担心的。如果他们试图扩大法院以稀释保守派的多数，下次共和党掌权时——我们会改变这个数字吗?”格雷厄姆问。"你让最高法院基本上变成了一个政治足球——它失去了独立性和连贯性."
undefined根据这项同样由佐治亚州众议员汉克·约翰逊(Hank Johnson)和众议院领导成员纽约的蒙代尔·琼斯(Mondaire Jones)提出的立法，现行法律将被修改为“一名美国首席大法官和十二名助理大法官，其中任何八名都应构成法定人数。”
但是自由党的推动面临着来自他们自己政党和法院自由派高层的强烈反对。
尽管该立法将允许乔·拜登总统任命四名可能更自由的法官，但当时的候选人拜登在10月份告诉美国广播公司主播乔治·斯特凡诺普洛斯，“我不是(法院扩张的)粉丝。”
拜登说:“我们最不需要做的就是把最高法院变成一个政治足球，谁拥有最多的选票，谁就能得到他们想要的。”告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻节目“60分钟”，也是在10月。“总裁来来去去。最高法院的法官会世代留任。”
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众议院议长南希·佩洛西(Nancy Pelosi)周四对这一进步的努力泼冷水，她告诉记者，她目前不支持这一想法，也没有计划将这一提议提交讨论。
“不。我支持总统委员会研究这样的提议，”佩洛西说，他指的是拜登总统最近成立的研究此事的36人委员会。
“我不知道这是一个好主意还是坏主意，我认为这是一个应该研究的想法，”佩洛西说，并补充说，“我没有计划把它带到地板上。”
undefined尽管人们都在谈论该法案在参议院增加四个法院席位的狭窄道路，但民主党人不太可能在众议院获得通过该法案的票数，鉴于他们以218票对212票的微弱优势，他们目前在任何党派的投票中都只能失去两名民主党人。
参议院司法委员会的最高民主党人迪克·德宾星期四也表示怀疑，他说，他还没有决定是否支持这项努力，还没有决定是否将这项立法提交给他的小组投票。
“我还没准备好签字，”迪尔德宾说。，说道。“我对目前的局势感到担忧，我认为这是受麦康奈尔决定的影响，麦康奈尔决定在特朗普填补空缺之前保持空缺。有意控制法院的未来。我对此不满意，我已经说过了。我想确保我们对此的回应是合理的。”
最高法院自由派的高级成员斯蒂芬·布雷耶法官星期二公开警告反对马基、纳德勒、约翰逊和蒙代尔等人的党派提案。
“把最高法院视为另一个政治机构是错误的，”布雷尔在准备在哈佛法学院发表的讲话中说。"认为其成员是低级联盟政客是双重错误的."
他说:“由政治影响力的感知所引发的结构性改变只会助长这种感知，进一步侵蚀这种信任。”。
外部团体一直在为一场恶战做准备。
一个保守的宣传团体——司法危机网络(Judicial Crisis Network)——正在进行一场耗资百万美元的电视广告活动，攻击这项立法，并使用了当时的参议员乔·拜登(Joe Biden)在1983年担任司法委员会主席时说过的话。拜登反对罗纳德·里根总统提出的扩大民权小组的提议，他将这一提议比作富兰克林·德拉诺·罗斯福总统旨在扩大法院以阻止法院推翻他的新政政策的不幸计划。
“罗斯福总统显然有权向美国参议院和美国国会提交一份解散法院的提案。他完全有权这样做。他没有违反任何法律，”拜登在一次委员会会议上说。“但这是一个愚蠢的想法。这是一个可怕的错误。这让人怀疑，如果整整十年，这个国家最重要的机构——美国最高法院——的独立性。”
但周四，进步的立法者并没有被两党的反对所吓倒，他们说改变是困难的，需要时间，活动人士提到了为同性恋和民权长达数十年的斗争。
“佩洛西议长对事件和历史的判断非常好，我相信随着事件的发展，随着最高法院做出对女性选择权有害的判决，随着他们做出对气候有害的判决，随着他们的下台...纳德勒说:“随着破坏公民自由的决定的出现，我相信议长佩洛西和其他人将会出现。
他们的外部进步盟友已经介入。
“全国47个州已经提出了361项压制选民法案。“我们的民主正处于危险之中，”需求正义首席法律顾问克里斯·康(Chris Kang)说，他站在国会团体的一边。
康说:“我们准备好了邻居对邻居，朋友对朋友，成员对成员，参议员对参议员，直到我们在众议院和参议院获得大多数支持通过这项立法。”
Democratic lawmakers propose expanding Supreme Court to 13 justices
Congressional Democrats introduced legislation Thursday to expand the Supreme Court from nine justices to 13, arguing that doing so would restore the court’s integrity and reverse what they said were wrongs perpetrated by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, his GOP colleagues, and then-PresidentDonald Trumpwhose three nominees cemented a conservative majority, potentially for generations.
"The court is broken, and make no mistake about it - the court is broken because Sen. Mitch McConnell, his Senate Republican colleagues, and Donald Trump broke it,” said Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass, in introducing the Judiciary Act of 2021.
He blasted McConnell for refusing to consider then-Judge Merrick Garland to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia months ahead of the 2016electiononly to successfully install conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett just days before Election Day in 2020 following the death of liberal icon Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.
“There can be no justification for what they did. How can Americans look at the Court and expect it to do justice - to do equal justice - when it has been so severely politically manipulated?” asked House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, a bill co-sponsor, adding, “Some people will say we’re packing the Court. We're not packing. We’re unpacking. Senator McConnell and the Republicans packed it over the last couple of years.”
Rep. Nadler on his bill to expand the Supreme Court: "As our country has grown, so should the Supreme Court. 13 justices for 13 circuits is a logical progression...and to rectify the great injustice that was done in packing the court."https://t.co/Z1gC6BePs8pic.twitter.com/sb0gJGEFMA
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics)April 15, 2021
Markey, standing with his fellow Democrats on the Supreme Court steps, argued that Congress “must expand the court and we must abolish the filibuster to do it,” though Democrats currently lack the support in their own party for that move.
Republicans excoriated the proposal before it was even unveiled with Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell saying that even the threat of legislation, despite it having little-to-no chance of passing, is a key part of the Democrats’ plan.
"It’s not just about whether this insane bill becomes law. Part of the point here are the threats themselves. The left wants a sword dangling over the Justices when they weigh the facts in every case,” argued McConnell.
"The threats are the point. The hostage-taking is the point, and responsible people across the political spectrum have a duty to denounce this," McConnell, R-Ky., said in a Senate floor speech.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., called it a "terrible idea."
"The stability is what I worry about. If they try to expand the court to dilute a conservative majority, the next time Republicans are in power - will we change the number?" Graham asked. "And you make the Supreme Court basically a political football -- it loses its independence, its consistency."
Under the legislation, also introduced by Reps. Hank Johnson of Georgia and New York’s Mondaire Jones, a member of House leadership, current law would be amended to state that ‘"a Chief Justice of the United States and twelve associate justices, any eight of whom 2 shall constitute a quorum."
But the liberal push faces stiff odds with high-level opposition coming from their own party and from the liberal wing of the court.
Though the legislation would allow President Joe Biden to appoint four presumably more liberal justices, then-candidate Biden told ABC Anchor George Stephanopoulos in October, "I’m not a fan (of Court expansion)."
"The last thing we need to do is turn the Supreme Court into just a political football, whoever has the most votes gets whatever they want," Bidentoldthe CBS News program "60 Minutes," also in October. "Presidents come and go. Supreme Court justices stay for generations."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday threw cold water on the progressive effort, telling reporters she does not currently support the idea and has no plans to bring the proposal to the floor.
"No. I support the president's commission to study such a proposal," Pelosi said, referring to the 36-member commission recently established by President Biden to study the matter.
"I don’t know that it’s a good idea or a bad idea, I think it’s an idea that should be studied,” said Pelosi, adding, "I have no plans to bring it to the floor.”
For all the talk of the narrow path for the bill to add four court seats in the Senate, it's unlikely that Democrats have the votes to pass the bill in the House, where they currently can only afford to lose two Democrats on any party line vote, given their slim 218-212 majority.
The top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Dick Durbin, also voiced skepticism Thursday, saying he had not yet decided whether he'll support the effort and is undecided on whether he'd bring the legislation before his panel for a vote.
"I'm not ready to sign on yet," Durbin, D-Ill., said. "I'm concerned both by the current situation which I believe was influenced by the McConnell decision to keep that vacancy open until Trump could fill it. Conscious design to control the future of the Court. I wasn't happy with that and I've said so. I want to make sure that our response to that is reasonable."
And Justice Stephen Breyer, the senior member of the court's liberal wing, delivered a stark public warning Tuesday against partisan proposals like the one by Markey, Nadler, Johnson, and Mondaire.
"It is wrong to think of the Court as another political institution," Breyer said in remarks prepared for delivery at Harvard Law School. "And it is doubly wrong to think of its members as junior league politicians."
"Structural alteration motivated by the perception of political influence can only feed that perception, further eroding that trust," he said.
Outside groups have been girding for a vicious fight.
A conservative advocacy group, Judicial Crisis Network, is out with a million-dollar TV ad campaign attacking the legislation and using then-Sen. Joe Biden’s own words in 1983 when he chaired the Judiciary Committee. Biden, in opposing a proposal by President Ronald Reagan to expand a civil rights panel, likened it to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s ill-fated plan to expand the court to stop it from striking down his New Deal policies.
"President Roosevelt clearly had the right to send to the United States Senate and the United States Congress a proposal to pack the court. It was totally within his right to do that. He violated no law," said Biden at a committee proceeding. "But it was a bonehead idea. It was a terrible, terrible mistake to make. And it put in question, if for an entire decade, the independence of the most significant body … in this country, the Supreme Court of the United States of America."
But the progressive lawmakers on Thursday were not deterred by all of the bipartisan pushback saying that change is hard and takes time, with activists referencing the decades-long fight for gay and civil rights.
"Speaker Pelosi is a very good judge of events and of history, and I believe as events unfold, as the Court comes down with decisions destructive to a woman's right to choose, as they come down with decisions destructive to the climate, as they come down ... with decisions destructive of civil liberties, I believe that Speaker Pelosi and others will come along," Nadler said.
And their outside progressive allies are engaged.
"Already 361 voter suppression bills have been introduced in 47 states across the country. Our very democracy hangs in the balance," said Chris Kang, chief counsel for Demand Justice, standing alongside the congressional group.
"We’re prepared to go neighbor to neighbor, friend to friend, member to member, senator to senator till we gain a majority of support in both the House and Senate to pass this legislation," Kang said.
