[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 63 (Tuesday, April 13, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1885-S1886]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                             Supreme Court

  Mr. President, on Friday, in what is fast becoming a theme of his 
Presidency, President Biden caved to the demands of the far left and 
officially established his Court-packing Commission.
  Yes, Court packing, an idea that had been consigned to the ash heap 
of history almost a century ago, has been given new life by the far 
left who--wait for it--are upset that a duly elected Republican 
President was able to get his Justices confirmed to the Supreme Court.
  That is right, Mr. President. The terrible crisis we are facing is 
that a Republican President was able to fill three vacancies on the 
Supreme Court.
  I confess I had missed the part in the Constitution that said the 
Supreme Court is only legitimate if a majority of its members were 
nominated by a Democratic President or at least reliably delivers 
liberals' preferred outcomes
  But liberals didn't, and now they are eager to ``restore balance'' to 
the Supreme Court by expanding the number of Supreme Court Justices and 
ensuring that a Democratic President fills the new spots.
  President Biden--the same man who once called President Roosevelt's 
failed Court-packing proposal a ``bonehead idea'' and a ``terrible, 
terrible mistake to make''--is apparently falling in with the far 
left's demands.
  His Commission, composed largely of left-leaning scholars, Democratic 
operatives, and a few conservatives as bipartisan window dressing, will 
consider Court packing and other structural ``reforms'' like term 
limits for Supreme Court Justices.
  It is funny how Democrats weren't too concerned about term limits 
when revered liberal Justices were serving for decades. But faced with 
the terrible prospect that a Justice Barrett or a Justice Gorsuch might 
have a similarly long career, the left is suddenly eager to limit 
Supreme Court terms.
  There are so many things wrong with the left's Court-packing 
proposals that it is difficult to know where to begin, but let's start 
with the ludicrous idea that packing the Court will somehow restore the 
Court's legitimacy in the eyes of the public--not that the Court's 
legitimacy has been lost in the eyes of anyone but far-left liberals.
  In fact, the Supreme Court might be the Federal institution that 
garners the greatest degree of respect from the public. The Supreme 
Court's approval rating routinely exceeds that of Congress and usually 
by a substantial margin.
  But let's suppose for a second that liberals are correct and that the 
Supreme Court has lost its legitimacy in the eyes of the public.
  If that is the case, there is nothing, nothing Democrats could do 
that would be more guaranteed to further undermine public trust in the 
Court than to pack the Court--nothing.
  Do Democrats seriously think that they can enhance the credibility of 
the Supreme Court in the eyes of the American people by expanding it to 
add more Democratic Justices? Do they think the 74 million people who 
voted for Republicans in the last election are going to see this as 
adding necessary balance to the Court? If they do, they should think 
again.
  As Justice Stephen Breyer noted just last week, ``It is wrong to 
think of the court as another political institution. 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.''
  That from Justice Stephen Breyer.
  Republicans and, I venture to say, a lot of Independent and Democrat 
voters as well will see this for exactly what it is, and that is an 
attempt by Democrats to undermine an essential institution to ensure 
that Democrats get the Supreme Court rulings that they want.
  Democrats can dress up their openness to Court-packing proposals in 
lofty language and faux expressions of concern for the institution, but 
no one--no one is fooled. This is about power, pure and simple. 
Democrats want power.
  They want to be able to impose the policies they want when they want 
them, and they are afraid, if the Supreme Court isn't packed full of 
Democrat nominees, the Supreme Court might rule against them.
  And so more and more Democrats are apparently perfectly willing to 
consider undermining, if not destroying, a fundamental part of our 
system of government to guarantee--to guarantee their political power.
  Let's think about this in practical terms for a minute. Let's suppose 
that Democrats actually succeed in expanding the Supreme Court and 
adding more Democratic nominees. What do they think is going to happen 
next time there is a Republican President and a Republican Congress?
  Well, I can tell you. Republicans would make their own move to 
``restore balance'' and add some more Republican Supreme Court 
nominees. And then I imagine when Democrats retook power, they would do 
the same thing.
  In a decade or so, the Supreme Court could be expanded to laughable 
proportions. Think about it. How many Justices are we going to have? 
Fifteen? Twenty? Thirty? There would be no end to this lunacy.

[[Page S1886]]

  In the words of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg only 2 years ago, ``Nine 
seems to be a good number. It's been that way for a long time. . . . I 
think it was a bad idea when President Franklin Roosevelt tried to pack 
the court.''
  And that, again, was the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She said 
it was a bad idea.
  And fortunately for the country, when President Roosevelt proposed 
his Court-packing plan, both Republicans and Democrats opposed it.
  Unfortunately, Democrats today seem to be more concerned with power 
than principle or, in some cases, maybe lack the courage to stand up to 
the ferocity of the far left.
  In the past, President Biden has powerfully defended American 
institutions, but now he seems incapable of standing up to the far 
left, and so now we have an American President implicitly endorsing the 
idea of Court packing by establishing a Commission to study the 
proposal.
  Democrats like to talk about democracy and making sure that people 
have a voice, but it is becoming increasingly clear that they think 
their voices and the voices of liberal Americans are the only voices 
that should be heard.
  Now, if they can't win by convincing the public to elect strong 
Democratic majorities, they have made it increasingly clear that they 
are willing to undermine our institutions to ensure their grip on 
power.
  Don't like the makeup of the Supreme Court? Expand the Court with new 
Democratic Justices until you can be sure you get the results you want.
  Don't like Senate rules like the legislative filibuster that give the 
minority party a voice in legislation? Change the rules
  Don't like your election prospects? Pass legislation like H.R. 1 or 
S. 1, designed to give your party a permanent advantage in electoral 
contests.
  I understand Democrats' passion for their political beliefs. I am 
pretty passionate about advancing my political principles, but I 
believe we should be advancing our principles the democratic way, by 
persuading people to vote for us, not by undermining our democratic 
institutions to give our party an advantage.
  I am deeply disappointed that President Biden found himself unable to 
stand up to pressure from the radical left, but I hope--I hope that at 
least some Democrats will find the courage to oppose these dangerous 
attempts to undermine our system of government.
  The Biden Court-packing Commission is a solution in search of a 
problem and an attempt at a raw power grab by Democrats. It should 
quickly fade into the obscurity that it deserves.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania.