On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) added his voice to expand the Supreme Court to a “baker’s dozen,” or thirteen members to allow Democrats to add justices who agree with him and Democratic members on how the law must be interpreted. In the meantime, as discussed earlier, court packing is being pushed as the new litmus test for any Democratic candidates. Clyburn’s “baker’s dozen” is a telling description of an effort to bake in partisan views on a Court expanded to create an instant liberal majority. In defending this hostile takeover of the Court, Clyburn bizarrely insisted that the failure to do so might lead to a return to antebellum conditions when blacks were being given fewer rights than whites.
When asked by host Kristen Welker whether he supports the call of former Vice President Kamala Harris to pack the Court, Clyburn responded:
“Yes, I do. I think that we are in a position now that calls for some significant actions taken by the Congress and we ought to expand. Thirteen is a pretty good number. A baker’s dozen would be a good number to have on the court. And I would hope we would get people on the Court who will follow the constitutional underpinnings of this great nation of ours.”
Clyburn then made the sensational claim that, without taking over the Court, blacks could be returned to virtual slave conditions. He added:
“The 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments have been interpreted different ways over the years. And we had in the Warren Court an interpretation of those amendments that I thought would be set for the future of the country. We have now a Supreme Court that has decided to reverse course and take this country back, I say, to those rulings of Justice Taney that said that no black man has any rights that a white man must respect.”
So, while recognizing that interpretations have evolved, Clyburn now demands a takeover of the Court because he disagrees with the current interpretations. It was fine when interpretations aligned with his views, but opposing viewpoints are intolerable and warrant packing the Court with reliable liberal votes. Other Democrats have demanded packing the Court to reverse immigration rulings.
The unhinged rhetoric reflects the importance of taking over the Court by Democrats who view the institution as a barrier to carrying out a radical agenda, including proposals that are considered unconstitutional. Liberal professors and pundits have identified a court takeover as essential to, as one law professor put it, guaranteeing that the Democrats never lose another national election. As former Eric Holder and James Carville have made clear, it is about power and guaranteeing its retention.
Of course, these figures know that it will take a great deal to get Americans to trash core institutions and values. Polls have long shown that a majority of citizens oppose efforts to pack the Court. FDR’s infamous court-packing plan in the 1930s has been widely panned in history, but is now being used as a model by many Democrats to achieve short-term political goals.
In order to overcome this fealty to our constitutional system, citizens must be very angry or very afraid. That is why the rage rhetoric is increasing as we approach the midterm elections. In the last election, the prediction was the imminent end of democracy. Now it is the return to slavery conditions in the United States.
One can disagree with the Court without suggesting that these justices are effective racists or want to return the nation to pre-Civil War slavery conditions. The suggestion that the Court would return this country to the Dred Scott period from before the Civil War is deeply offensive to the conservative justices, including Justice Clarence Thomas, who is African American. It is an absurd suggestion and shows contempt not just for the Court but for Black voters.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
If it’s such a good idea to expand the court why doesn’t Clyburn do it right now under President Trump? Because it is not a good idea, it’s a partisan play to seize power.
This is how I look at if something is fair and a good idea. Would the party clamoring for the change support implementing it when their opposition party is in power? If they don’t you know it is bad policy.
You see like vote ID, the Republicans would support that if the Democrats tried to implement it. Same with banning men in women’s sports, the Republicans would support that if the Democrats tried to pass it. That is true of almost 80/20 issues.
Talk about blind obedience to a cult. Running on desperation, these tools haven’t the brain function to see where this is headed. Either THEY lose big OR the nation loses BIG and we are toast.
The open dishonesty of the Dems never ceases to amaze and simultaneously nauseate me. The packing of SCOTUS is to set aside the question of constitutionality in the laws made by Congress. The Constitution was designed to limit the power of the federal government to protect the public from its government. That protection will disappear along with our rights, freedom and security. The Dems want power over us, not for our best interest but their benefit.
And this is one reason that the SC republican legislature should be condemned for not gerrymandering this jerk out of his seat.
I am a strong believer that sunshine is the best disinfectant because it exposes the egregious nature of a person or idea. Unfortunately, these prog tools are so blinkered, brainwashed and indoctrinated (or just plain vicious and full of hate) that sunlight never reaches their eyes and they blindly stick to the bullying cult and just push on. Even Pavlov’s dogs wouldn’t have been conditioned to eat poison food.
OH HELL YEAH – Pack that Damn Court you old Fools!!! And if anybody gets in the way it might be time for another MILLION MAN MARCH – maybe even go to Selma and cross the bridge again, then have a Fiery but mostly Peaceful Riot in every major city until THE MAN is tired of watching the slums and ghettos burn to the ground. YEAH THAT IS DEFINITELY GONNA GET SOME GOOD RESULTS!!!! Kinda like the Saint George Floyd Riots, right?
They have been indoctrinated to only see the glorious takeover of the nation, there is no other vista for them – it is beginning to resemble those kamikaze pilots of WWII who flew their suicide missions because of their devotion to their cult.
Advocating for packing the Court should immediately disqualify anyone for public office. The Court is finally interpreting the Constitution as it is written, not as opponents wishes it were. Clyburn & Co. need to realize that this Court has made a number of rulings against Trump, e.g., birthright citizenship. And ending racial gerrymandering should be something everyone supports – including Clyburn. That is what the Civil Rights Act was all about.
” And ending racial gerrymandering should be something everyone supports – including Clyburn.” Never happen, he, just as the rest who still cling to the dem party (and the entire prog/communist/islamist ideology) are mere bots at this point. Indoctrinated enough to function at a base level of communication but not educated enough to recognize the past that they are on beyond the promises of utopia that purchased their votes.
I am IN! Tomorrow DJT will choose an additional 3 (or maybe it should be 6!!) lifetime judges to satisfy the Democrats calls for packing SCOTUS!
I am so excited that every Democrat will vote an emphatic YES on DJT’s nominations!
Of course only power hungry hypocrites would vote NO!
Great days ahead for the USA!
I didn’t watch. I’m sure the crackerjack, unbiased, journalist Welker asked Clyburn if he’d vote to add four new justices now. Right?
You have to tip your hat to the brazenness of the politicians. They do not like a court ruling and they want to pack the court with people they like. It is unConstitutional if I do not like a ruling. The politicians know more than the Justices? You might as well argue traffic trouble with a truck driver.
They only get away with such brazenness because the Media is on their side.
I agree. A dozen additional Supreme Court Justices should be nominated by President Donald J. Trump and confirmed by the Senate immediately.
MAGA is dead. MAGA will be deader than dean come November.
Actually the Dems plunged a knife into their own party by electing inexperienced, neophyte, Socialists like El Sayed, Mamdani, Valdez, Chevalier, Rhabi, Kiros, Kawas, Bribari, Sanchez (heck, what country is this in?) They certainly don’t want a great America because they are hardly American. I welcome their return to their ancestral lands.