Dean went on MS NOW to show her radical bona fides in an interview with host Jonathan Capehart, who raised the favorite talking point of how the Republicans were seeking to steal the next election.
Dean immediately turned the question into an attack on the Court, expressing her concern “about a United States Supreme Court that has been so corrupted.”
It is a narrative that is entirely unconnected to reality. As I discussed in a recent column, the Court continues not only to rule against this president in major cases but also to rule unanimously or nearly unanimously in the vast majority of cases.
Dean’s criticism of the Court is particularly ironic in the same week the Court again ruled against Republicans in an election case by rejecting, for a third time, the effort to redesign voting districts before the midterm elections.
The false narrative is part of a concerted effort by Democratic politicians to condition voters into accepting court packing. Professors and pundits are now demanding that court-packing be an actual litmus test for Democratic candidates.
The reason is a sad statement about the state of American politics. Presented with the prospect of guaranteeing power for years by rejecting our constitutional values and traditions, politicians like Dean are choosing power.
Former Obama Attorney General Eric Holder has put packing the Supreme Court front and center, explaining, “[We’re] talking about the acquisition and the use of power if there is a Democratic trifecta in 2028.”
It is the Nike School of Constitutional Law. Democratic leaders are pledging to “just do it” to appease the mob. Of course, some of these measures would be challenged if done without constitutional amendment. The Supreme Court would then have to rule on the effort to pack or limit its members. The expansion can be done by legislative vote. Although most Americans oppose court packing, Democrats view control of the Court as essential to pushing through a radical agenda to change the political system to their advantage.
Years ago, Harvard professor Michael Klarman laid out a radical agenda to change the system to guarantee Republicans “will never win another election.” However, he warned that “the Supreme Court could strike down everything I just described.” Therefore, the court must be packed in advance to make these changes possible.
In the same way that a vast majority of Democratic voters now say that they would favor a military coup in the name of “saving democracy,” Democratic politicians are claiming to protect our constitutional system by destroying it with court packing.
Every leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination has now embraced court-packing, a new litmus test for the far left.
It is the ultimate form of corruption … in politicians like Rep. Dean. Presented with a clear choice between power and principle, they choose power.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”