{"id":2300468,"date":"2024-07-19T05:51:02","date_gmt":"2024-07-19T09:51:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-push-to-expand-supreme-court-hill-democrats-hit-snag-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-07-19T05:55:44","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T09:55:44","slug":"hill-democrats-face-obstacles-in-efforts-to-expand-supreme-court-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hill-democrats-face-obstacles-in-efforts-to-expand-supreme-court-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Hill Democrats face obstacles in efforts to expand Supreme Court &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhill-democrats-face-obstacles-in-efforts-to-expand-supreme-court-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2300468&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In a push to expand the Supreme Court, Hill Democrats are \u2062facing obstacles. Rep. Adriano Espaillat co-sponsored legislation to \u200dadd seats to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-yanks-trump-backed-hispanic-nominee-to-federal-appeals-court\/\" title=\"Biden Yanks Trump-Backed Hispanic Nominee to Federal Appeals Court\">highest judicial tribunal<\/a>, aiming to increase the number of justices to 13 from nine. There is growing dissatisfaction among Democrats with the current composition of the court, especially after recent controversial decisions. Despite this, support for expanding the court among Democrats remains divided.\u2064 The\u200d Biden administration and a \u2064majority of House Republicans are against the\u2064 idea. Instead, Democrats are\u200c exploring alternative legislative fixes, such as\u200b defining Trump&#8217;s post-election \u200cactions as prosecutable\u2064 offenses. Additionally,\u200c there are proposals for increased transparency and accountability for Supreme Court justices through legislation introduced by\u2064 Sen. Sheldon\u2063 Whitehouse.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-sacff-txt\">Magazine &#8211; Washington Briefing <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">In push to expand Supreme Court, Hill Democrats hit snag<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1693681\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) used to think the only people who paid close attention to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/supreme-court\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Supreme Court<\/a> were ideological activists or political professionals inside the Washington Beltway. The more the congressman hears from voters in his upper Manhattan-based district, the more Espaillat realizes he was wrong.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I hear about the Supreme Court from constituents all the time,&rdquo; Espaillat said in an interview outside the Capitol on July 11. &ldquo;They say the court is a runaway train.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) speaks at a 2022 press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Alex Brandon\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Espaillat is bound to stop it. He has co-sponsored legislation that would buck more than 80 years of precedent by adding seats to the nation&rsquo;s highest judicial tribunal, bringing the number of justices who sit on the high court to 13 from nine. The latest version of the bill, the Judiciary Act of 2023, had gone nowhere in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/house-of-representatives\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Republican-controlled House.<\/a> Then on July 1 came the Supreme Court&rsquo;s decision in&nbsp;<em>Trump v. The United States<\/em>. Like other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-approval-rating-hits-new-low-poll-finds\/\" title=\"Supreme Court Approval Rating Hits New Low, Poll Finds\">high-profile decisions<\/a> this term, the ruling was 6-3, a reflection of the high court&rsquo;s conservative majority.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/democrats\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Democrats<\/a> decried the decision as the equivalent of a get-out-of-jail-for-free card to former President Donald Trump, whose supporters rioted at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/congress\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Congress<\/a> sought to certify the results from the recently concluded presidential election, which Trump lost. Espaillat said after talking with his House Democratic colleagues, he believes more will support the legislative effort to expand the high court.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a feeling that something needs to be done,&rdquo; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats&rsquo; disaffection with the high court has grown. In 2016, Hill Democrats howled in protest when then-Senate Majority Leader <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/mitch-mcconnell\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Mitch McConnell<\/a> (R-KY) held up President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/barack-obama\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Barack Obama<\/a>&rsquo;s nomination of Washington, D.C., Circuit Judge <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/merrick-garland\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Merrick Garland<\/a> to fill the seat of the late <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/antonin-scalia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Antonin Scalia<\/a>, a conservative, until after the presidential election &mdash; an unprecedented delay. When Trump was elected president, nearly all Senate Democrats voted against his three picks for the high court, each of whom was confirmed anyway. &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Congressional Democrats continue to be dismayed. They were shocked by the&nbsp;<em>Dobbs v. Jackson Women&rsquo;s Health Organization&nbsp;<\/em>decision in 2022, which overturned&nbsp;<em>Roe v. Wade<\/em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>Doe v. Bolton<\/em>, returning the question of the legal status of human embryos and fetuses to the states. They are furious with&nbsp;<em>Trump v. United States<\/em>, which gave presidents after they leave office absolute immunity from legal trouble for official acts related to their constitutional duties and presumed immunity for acts that fall somewhat outside it.<\/p>\n<p>As Espaillat discovered, ordinary Democratic voters, too, are alienated. According to a poll conducted by the <em>Associated Press<\/em> and National Opinion Research Center last month, 58% of self-identified Democrats said they had &ldquo;hardly any confidence at all&rdquo; in the Supreme Court. (By contrast, only 18% of self-identified Republicans said the same.)<\/p>\n<p>Yet widespread Democratic opposition has not hardened into support for expanding the court.<\/p>\n<p>Sixty-three House Democrats signed on as co-sponsors of the Judiciary Act of 2023, only five more that did so in 2021. A similar proposal by Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) has two co-sponsors in the chamber. Nearly all Democratic supporters &mdash; like Espaillat, whose district Joe Biden carried with 88% of the vote four years ago, making it one of the most Democratic in the country &mdash; hail from the party&rsquo;s progressive wing.<\/p>\n<p>The Biden administration has kept legislative efforts to expand the court at arm&rsquo;s length. When Biden announced his backing for a commission to examine the court&rsquo;s structure, he volunteered that he opposed &ldquo;packing the court,&rdquo; a reference to President Franklin D. Roosevelt&rsquo;s failed attempt in 1937 to add a new justice each time a sitting justice turned 70 years old and failed to retire after six months.<\/p>\n<p>The Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, a 34-member panel Biden created in 2021, was no less welcoming. It avoided taking a position on expanding the court. &ldquo;Mirroring the broader public debate, there is profound disagreement among commissioners on these issues,&rdquo; its report said.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, not a single Hill Republican has signed on as a co-sponsor of the Democratic bills to add more justices to the high court. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s dangerous,&rdquo; Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI) said in an interview. &ldquo;Democrats are trying to use extra-constitutional means to change the government. When I was a child in school, we were taught that FDR&rsquo;s attempt to pack the Supreme Court was terrible.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), Trump&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrats-pass-bill-critics-say-defunds-police-and-reject-proposal-to-condemn-calls-to-abolish-police\/\" title=\"Democrats Pass Bill Critics Say Defunds Police And Reject Proposal To Condemn Calls To \u2018Abolish\u2019 Police\">vice presidential running mate<\/a>, cast doubt even on a successful effort by Democrats to expand the high court. &ldquo;Once they lose control in Washington, Republicans will increase the number of justices to 200,&rdquo; he said in a Capitol Hill interview days before Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, tapped him for the GOP ticket.<\/p>\n<p>With little support to expand the high court, Democrats are considering alternative legislative fixes.<\/p>\n<p>On July 8, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he plans to unveil a proposal that would define Trump&rsquo;s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election as unofficial acts subject to prosecution. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re doing this because we believe that in America, no president should be free to overturn an election against the will of the people, no matter what the conservative justices may believe,&rdquo; Schumer said.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats have proposed less ideologically loaded legislation as well.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) introduced a bill that would require the high court to adopt rules for their justices and law clerks to disclose income, gifts, and income &ldquo;at least as rigorous&rdquo; as those of the House and Senate. Forty-three of his Democratic colleagues signed on as co-sponsors of the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act of 2023. Unlike the House and Senate bills to expand the Supreme Court, Whitehouse&rsquo;s legislation has added significant support after it was introduced.<\/p>\n<p>The first Democrat to sign up was Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. In an interview on July 11, Blumenthal said expanding the Supreme Court is a bridge too far. &ldquo;We need to reform and restore confidence in the court first,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There should be a code of ethics and rules that the justices abide by.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Democrats are incensed by the coziness that two conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, showed toward wealthy patrons. Few mention that as the <em>Associated Press<\/em> reported last year, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ethics-alert-supreme-court-justice-sotomayor-used-taxpayer-funded-court-staff-to-sell-her-book\/\" title=\"Justice Sotomayor&#039;s Book Sales Involved Taxpayer-Funded Court Staff\">taxpayer-funded court staff<\/a> for progressive Justice <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/sonia-sotomayor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title>Sonia Sotomayor<\/a> prodded colleges and libraries to buy her memoir and children&rsquo;s books.<\/p>\n<p>The justices are publicly unaccountable for a reason. The high court lacks a code of conduct, allowing justices to write their own rules. By framing the Supreme Court&rsquo;s woes in institutional rather than ideological terms, Blumenthal said Congress may be able to address them. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s happened now is more Americans don&rsquo;t have faith in the institution,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and that&rsquo;s sad.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><em>Mark Stricherz is a reporter and writer in Washington, D.C.<\/em><\/p>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1693681\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1693681\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an effort to increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court, Democrats in Congress are facing obstacles. Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY) has co-sponsored a bill to expand the court to 13 justices, but the legislation has not gained much traction in the Republican-controlled House. The recent Supreme Court ruling in Trump v. The United States, which favored conservatives, has fueled Democratic discontent with the court. Despite widespread opposition to the court among Democrats, there is not strong support for expanding the court. Instead, Democrats are considering alternative legislative measures, such as defining Trump&#8217;s actions to overturn the 2020 election as subject to prosecution. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has introduced a bill to require Supreme Court justices to disclose income and gifts, which has gained more support than the efforts to expand the court. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) believes that reforming and restoring confidence in the court should be the priority before considering expanding it<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3316,"featured_media":2300469,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/WB.Congress-2.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[3685,33220,13622,32275,32076],"class_list":["post-2300468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner","tag-democrats","tag-hill-democrats","tag-obstacles","tag-supreme-court","tag-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/WB.Congress-2.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2300468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3316"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2300468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2300468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2300469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2300468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2300468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2300468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}