 |
| The Supremes in 1937, the year FDR attempted to pack the court. |
Don't get me wrong; I think that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are doing a fairly good job at their respective jobs. Although I supported neither of them in the primaries last year, I'm awfully relieved they won the 2020 election. I'm quite sure I don't need to explain to you my reasoning. You get the idea, I'm sure.
That being said, someone with a bit of influence with the president really ought to have a word with Joe about the fact that he has his people studying the possibly of raising the number of justices on the Supreme Court. This is a terrible idea that is surely likely to blow up in Joe's face - just as it did with Franklin Delano Roosevelt eighty-four years ago.
Yeah, that's right. This has been attempted before.
You see, in 1937 Roosevelt had the same headache that the POTUS is having today - a judicial branch of the government that was packed to the rafters with a cabal of right wing extremists who were hell-bent on curtailing human and social progress. After winning reelection in a resounding landslide in 1936, FDR put his plan into motion. The last straw for the Frankster was when the Supremes declared the National Recovery Act unconstitutional a couple of years before. After his second inauguration was behind him he put his plan into action. Although he had support from the progressive diehards in the congress, most of them - even a sizable number of members from his own party - were aghast at the idea. Franklin Roosevelt was handed the worst political defeat of his twelve year presidency.
Within a year of his scheme, one of the old codgers on the court retired and FDR was able to appoint William O. Douglas to the court. More vacancies soon followed, and by the end of his term in 1945, he pretty much had the Supremes locked up.
It might take a few years, but the balance on that court will favor the progressives again someday. An attempt to "pack" the court in 2021 would only set a bad precedent. Who's to predict that the Republicans don't attempt to try the same thing if they ever get back into power?
Please note that I said "if they ever get back into power.
If President Biden is seriously considering going down this path, he really needs to rethink it.
0 Yorumlar