I have previously criticized Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., for his almost unrivaled advocacy of censorship and speech controls. Blumenthal previously threatened social media companies not to “backslide” in censoring opposing views. Now, Blumenthal is taking up the cudgel of court packing with not so subtle threats to conservative justices that, if they do not vote with their liberal colleagues, the Court may be fundamentally altered. He is not alone in such reckless and coercive rhetoric.
Blumenthal told The Hill:
“It will inevitably fuel and drive an effort to expand the Supreme Court if this activist majority betrays fundamental constitutional principles. It’s already driving that movement. Chipping away at Roe v. Wade will precipitate a seismic movement to reform the Supreme Court. It may not be expanding the Supreme Court, it may be making changes to its jurisdiction, or requiring a certain numbers of votes to strike down certain past precedents.”
The statement is reminiscent of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer declaring in front of the Supreme Court “I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price.”
Democratic leaders not only have embraced court packing but now openly threaten the Court to vote with the liberal justices or face dire consequences for the Court. The effort seems to be a play for the change in voting on the Court the followed prior threats for court packing in the 1930s. Faced with a conservative majority ruling against his New Deal legislation, Roosevelt called for up to six additional justices, one for every justice older than 70. That was basically the profile of the “four horsemen” blocking his measures.
Like the latest calls, the FDR plan was based on politics rather than principle. When the politics changed, the plan died. FDR dropped his plan as soon as he got what he wanted with a favorable majority. That is why the switch of Justice Owen Roberts in favor of a New Deal case became known as a “switch in time that saved nine.”
The Democrats are pushing to engage in court packing despite polls showing heavy opposition to the move from voters as well as opposition from the justices themselves. Before Ginsburg died, nine nominations had occurred in election years since 1900, and Ginsburg herself said in 2016 that the Senate had to do its “job” and vote on such nominations because “there’s nothing in the Constitution that says the president stops being president in his last year.” Moreover, Ginsburg also opposed expanding the Court, but she is not being cited by liberals as the reason to doing precisely what she opposed as inimical to the functioning of the Court. Justice Steven Breyer has also denounced the move to pack the court.
None of that matters to Democratic members who know that court packing is popular with the most extreme elements of their party.
Many of us have discussed the expansion of the Supreme Court through the years. Over 20 years ago, I recommended the expansion of the Court to 17 or 19 members. However, that recommendation would occur over many years and would not give advocates the short-term majority that they are seeking. That is the difference between reforming and packing the Court.
It is particularly chilling to see United States senators openly pressuring justices to vote with their side or face severe consequences. Blumenthal went as far as to mention specific cases and the expected rulings. This follows raw demands in the confirmation hearing of now Justice Amy Coney Barrett that she promise to rule on particular cases “correctly” as a condition for her confirmation.
The question is whether the Democrats are overplaying their hand. Recently, a Democratic “dark money” group called Demand Justice, had a billboard truck in Washington the next day in the streets of Washington warning “Breyer, retire. Don’t risk your legacy.” The group is calling for open court packing to force a liberal majority. (Demand Justice once employed White House press secretary Jen Psaki as a communications consultant, and Psaki was on the advisory board of one of its voting projects.) The question is whether Breyer will accommodate such demands from the left or feel conversely that he should remain on the bench to show that such tactics do not influence members.
These not-so-veiled threats could have the same inverse impact on members like Chief Justice John Roberts, who could view the attempt to influence the justices as a far greater threat than any court-packing scheme.
Dear Leader and Senator Blumenthal functions as a narcissistic and power-hungry despot, just like his politburo comrades in communist China who exert totalitarian dictatorship over the entirety of the lives of the Chinese people and only yesterday ordered those captive citizens to raise the number of babies they produce – the inverse of the orders the communists dictators gave decades ago to lower the number of babies they produce.
Blumenthal believes in dictatorship over the Supreme Court and very well may believe in government mandated marriage as communist China believes in government mandated childbirth. The model for staffing the SCOTUS was provided by George Washington et al. in 1789:
“To limit the geographical area traveled by the justices, the Judiciary Act of 1789 divided the circuit courts into three regions: Eastern, Middle and Southern. The reason that the first Supreme Court had six justices was simple—so that two of them could preside in each of the three regions.”
– History.com
The model for staffing the SCOTUS was merely to cope with the docket. The docket is intractable because previous Supreme Courts failed to execute their sworn duty and limit the size of government to that which is commensurate with the severely limited and restricted size of government mandated by the Constitution.
Exactly how far will these nutjob communists (liberals, progressives, socialist, democrats, RINOs) in America go? Senator Richard Blumenthal is a liar. “Da Nang Dick” was never in Vietnam. “Da Nang Dick” threatens America and Americans when he threatens the U.S. Supreme Court. Richard Blumenthal is a direct and mortal enemy of the truth, facts, the American thesis of freedom and self-reliance, the Constitution and America itself.
We should consider two proposals. The Turley proposal is to expand the court to 17 or 19 Justices. The Dershowitz proposal asks, where does it stop. The Dershowitz proposal is practical but the Turley proposal is naive.
Things of this nature should be voted on again after the next presidential election and not enacted until that term is over. Sudden changes of this nature are risky.
Over this short time, many will change their mind and think differently. If a change of mind were to happen, that proves the idea does not maintain a stable society.
I give it to you. “Get up in their faces”. “You have released the wind and you will pay the price”. “Go and peacefully protest”. Which of these statements has the possibility of creating violence?
Being a Democrat in 2021 means routinely claiming that America is destroying the planet or that America is an evil society. Immediately after making these never-ending claims, Democratic leaders lurch forward with a never-ending list of solutions, each of which requires Americans of all races, classes, and religions to give up more and more of their freedoms.
I have zero respect for this scumbag Blumenthal for lying about serving in VIetnam.
For his threats to SCOTUS, he should be ejected from office.
These Senators that are openly promoting court-packing schemes don’t understand the principles of Americanism. Personally, I wish they would officially change their party name from the Democrat Party to the Un-American Party, but that’s a later discussion.
One thing that has held this nation together for over 200 years is that the general principles that the nation started with have remained mostly consistent from day one. The United States is not a place where rule of man exists over rule of law (at least, it’s not supposed to be). Yet we are now witnessing several Senators threaten another branch of government if the other group doesn’t vote their way. My personal message to these Senators is to not wreck the nation and its 300+ million citizens just because you can’t force your will upon changing the nation as quickly as you want. And stop treating us citizens like your pet lab rats.
Kevin Beck –
“Don’t tell me what the law is, tell me who the judge is.”
― Roy Cohn
Well said!
Excellent point, but lest we forget, this is about power, not about preserving the Republic and the foundation of our liberties…the Constitution. It’s corruption at its ugliest.
He should be cited for contempt.of court.by the Court
Giving Blumenthal the benefit of the doubt by assuming he is simply ignorant of (and not intentionally ignoring) the effect court packing would have on the separation of powers between the branches of government, his irrational anger seems to be primarily directed at the possibility that Roe v. Wade will be overturned. The irony (and possibly hypocrisy) of Blumenthal’s rant against judicial activism is that Roe was the epitome of judicial activism. This, in turn, further proves (1) that judicial activism has no place on the Court and (2) that Roe was SCOTUS’s worst decision since Plessy v. Ferguson – poor legal reasoning, no basis in science, arbitrary to the core, invasion of the preogatives of the legislative branch.
I suspect I might know what the senator is smoking…
Blue Menthol
Blowing smoke via Marlboro v. Madison
Mr. Turley, why now? Why did you wait this long to state “THE OBVIOUS”? The riots of the BLM/ANTIFA were orchestrated with one purpose, the Dems orchestrated all this to get one of the “Rookie Trump Supreme Court Justices” to vote with them via all their Election Theft they had planned. They knew they had Roberts, he’s a punk who cares what the Libs in DC think or who the libs have dirt on, either way they had hos vote in the bag, he’s a Never Trump punk. So, all the riots were about is scarring the hell out of those young justices via those riots, they tried to attack the White House (where do those new justices live LOL) they gathered around Rand Paul and every guest who left the White House, nothing was done to the thugs, they attacked McConnel, Graham and Tucker Carlson’s houses but WHY? They attacked three prominent well know people to send a message to those Justices, we are above the law and the FBI/Dems/Mayors are not going to stop us, we know where these important people live, we can find you Justices houses also, and we know you have kids. They gave us MOB TACTICS on purpose, in order to scare those new justices, in order to get them to not rule they way they should, that Dems all over the country violated Elections laws and stole this damned Election.
Mr. Turley, why in the hell will you not tell the truth, we all know it, YOU KNOWIT, those Election was stolen, people like you should be ashamed sir!! The shame of the Germans who allowed Hitler tp come forth should be your shame now, when Elections are stolen by thigs and you say nothing, you are party to that action sir. These Dems are evil, and you know they stole the Election, but you refuse to tell the truth.
As much as I hold Turley in contempt for prostituting himself by joining Fox News, in his defense, I would NEVER accuse him of harboring ill will toward Democrats. Nor has Turley EVER claimed- unlike the Trumpists here- that the Democrats stole the election. His shame is that he has never forthrightly condemned Trump for his Big Lie that the Democrats did steal it which Trump continues to push though Fox News understandably has ceased to promote it on account of the billion dollars defamation lawsuits against it. Turley has been retained by Fox News which explains why he cannot criticize Fox. Just like any lawyer, Turley has an obligation to represent his client’s interests. He is ethically bound not to disparage Fox even when he is aware of its bad faith. As long as as he does not enable or assist its false narratives, he has not crossed an ethical line. Which explains why Turley is silent about Fox’s journalism and does not even reference Fox or its show hosts by name in his articles; rather, he directs all his criticism at Fox’s media competitors, CNN and MSNBC. In this way, Turley can serve Fox’s interests without putting himself in a position of having to defend its lies.
Watch out for De Nang Dick. He has mad combat skills from his days fighting in Viet Nam, Just ask him.
Oh wait…. never mind.
Stolen Valor!
I wonder if Dick ever read up on fragging.
Isn’t threatening the Supreme Court illegal?
Senators routinely threaten SCOTUS. Upchuck Schumer does it all the time.
We should start making threats of our own against the democrats. Fear is the only thing that will keep the Democrats in check.
No.
All they did was to lock down DC and misappropriate National Guard troops from important duties, to babysit the fearful.
The left has been threatening the court and the country, in fact, with their brown shirt goon squad rioters. The thugs in the Senate are no better, just better dressed. But they don’t have the votes to pack the court and Breyer has told them to learn to get along with the other side, so he’s not retiring.
Here is an interesting side note. College students go berserk because of a noose that turned out to be an American flag on a crane.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/05/hate-hoax-noose-reported-college-campus-turns-us-flag-construction-crane
It seems that the demand for nooses exceeds the supply so frantic are some to discover racism in everything.
But could someone put up a noose as a political statement? Free speech? I think so. If you can burn an American flag you can display a noose. It isn’t a crime.
I claim the right to be as offended by someone burning an American flag as soy children in university claim for seeing, or imagining, a noose.
Schumer is making terroristic threats against the Justices from the SC steps. Blumenthal is making threats of coercion to try to control the decisions of the Justices. Both men are exhibiting abhorrent and morally reprehensible behavior for people in their positions! I would also say their comments are beneath their dignity, but they have proven that they have none!
All these continual threats and incitation of violence against Supreme Court justices by Schumer and Blumenthal should be met with calls for them to be impeached. This is far worse than anything Trump was accused of doing in regard to his fake impeachments!
Regarding Blumenthal’s lying about his service in Vietnam, that appears to be almost a pathological character fault among Democrats in office and in media.
Senator Harkin lied that he had flown combat missions over Vietnam–no, he didn’t.
Senator Reid lied about Romney’s taxes and later boastfully remarked that ‘it worked’.
Hillary lied about coming under fire in Sarajevo. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/mar/25/hillaryclinton.uselections2008
Brian Williams lied about Katrina and lied about his helicopter trip ‘under fire’ in Iraq and making an emergency landing
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2015/02/brian-williams-apology-helicopter
And more recently Fredo lied about his quarantine with Covid. He was met by an old man on a bike on Long Island when he was pretending to be in his basement. Despite being caught off the reservation Fredo still ’emerged’ from quarantine on camera weeks later. Shameless.
It seems used car salesman are significantly more honest than our D politicians and their media boot lickers.
If only all Democrats could be as honest as Donald Trump.
I don’t think that any one is is capable of lieing that often or to the degree of 45.
See Hussein and now the Dummy in Chief.
Paul, Jeff, who you are responding to, is worse. Why don’t you help him out? Jeff has been asked repeatedly to list Trump’s most significant lies as President that were part of his Presidential duties. You are free to do that for him. Leave out the puffery and opinion.
I’m not saying Trump doesn’t lie. All politicians lie, but Trump has shown himself to be more honest and transparent than those that preceded him. For the most part, Trump kept to his campaign promises, something rarely done by other Presidents. His transparency was demonstrated when he let the wH officials testify and when he released the Ukraine documents.
I think we should all give Trump our thanks.
J. Silberman–“If only all Democrats could be as honest as Donald Trump.”
***
Yeah, I wish for that too, but lying is too deeply embedded in Democrats, a stain on their souls. They aren’t capable of being as honest as President Trump.
Even Turley concedes that Trump is a liar. He doesn’t call him out often enough, but he has on occasion, bless his soul. It must dig down deep for you to have to accept the fact that someone whose opinion you greatly respect contradicts your belief that Trump is an honest man.
I do greatly respect Professor Turley but I make up my own mind.
I don’t think the professor has ever called Trump more of a liar than any of his predecessors.
It would be best if you restrained the meaning of what you say because your expansions make you into a liar.
Anonymous says: “I don’t think the professor has ever called Trump more of a liar than any of his predecessors.”
And risk his being terminated by Fox News? Turley is shamefully ignoring Trump’s Big Lie, but he is not stupid.
IS there a lie bigger than his oath beaking?USMCA. Barr, Session, SCOTUS.
Translation: bad behavior forgives other bad behavior. The zeitgeist all Demonkraut boot lickers when there’s no other reply Re. Demonkraut bad behavior.
I grew up in CT and we have had some great Senators over the years. Blumenthal is a weasel.
Blumenthal brings to mind Napoleon’s description of Tallyrand: “A turd in a silk stocking.”
As others have noted, Mr. Blumenthal lied about his service. He has no moral high ground upon which he can pontificate.
And Professor, I beg to disagree – 19-20 justices seems a tad unwieldy. Perfectly content to stay at 9, for now However, the next Republican president can go to 11.
Whig98,
Turley does not preclude *Biden* increasing the number of Justices by 2 as long as the limit is 2.
Dick has nothing to worry about. Only two justices have the courage to defy the cabal.