AIN Update

On Monday, Politico reported that
numerous Democratic presidential candidates have “not rule[d] out expanding the
Supreme Court if elected president.” 

Such a plan would be
disastrous shift in judicial norms. Although Congress has the power to decide
the number of seats on the Supreme Court, the current 9-member configuration
has been in place for 150 years. 

As explained in this joint op-ed by the R Street Institute’s Anthony
Marcum and the Project on Government Oversight’s Sarah Turberville, adding
seats would “accelerate the politicization of the Supreme Court.”

They conclude: “The
Supreme Court, although often bruised by perceptions of political bias, consistently
ranks above the elected branches of government in approval and trust. But that
trust is not assured. Partisanship on the left and right has chipped away at …
its legitimacy in the past. The ongoing perpetration of such acts, like court
packing, could end up cratering it.”

The full article can be
read here.

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