Playing Politics with the Supreme Court Part 2

Judge John Wilson (ret.) comments on the Democrat’s attempt to pack the U.S. Supreme Court

Thus, the real purpose for “packing” the Supreme Court with 4 new justices, to create a new majority, is clear; Bills like HR 1, the Equality Act, and gun control measures have a better chance of being found constitutional by a Democrat-selected majority, than by the current group, which is dominated by justices who read the Constitution as written.

While the proposal to add 4 more justices to the Supreme Court that would be appointed by the Biden Administration is genuinely concerning, the likelihood of passage seems low – at least for the present time. As described by NPR, “the bill has a grim future even without GOP opposition. Asked about the proposal at her weekly news conference, Pelosi said: ‘I have no plans to bring it to the floor’…(t)he House speaker added: ‘I support the president’s commission to study such a proposal.’” Further, According to The Washington Post, “Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), whose panel has oversight of the judicial branch, also said he is not ready to support such legislation. ‘Let’s think this through carefully,’ he said…‘(K)eep in mind the ultimate goal here is to make the historically proper choice for the administration of justice in the long term.’”

These carefully worded statements do not unequivocally declare the “court-packing” bill dead on arrival in the Senate. But the willingness of the House Speaker and Senate Democrats to wait for the recommendations of the Biden-appointed Commission is encouraging. “Writing to Thomas Jefferson, who had been out of the country during the Constitutional Convention, James Madison explained that the Constitution’s framers considered the Senate to be the great ‘anchor’ of the government. To the framers themselves, Madison explained that the Senate would be a ‘necessary fence’ against the ‘fickleness and passion’ that tended to influence the attitudes of the general public and members of the House of Representatives. George Washington is said to have told Jefferson that the framers had created the Senate to ‘cool’ House legislation just as a saucer was used to cool hot tea.” Perhaps members of the Senate Democratic caucus take these responsibilities more seriously than is generally supposed.

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More likely, however, Senate Democrats want the “cover” of acting with the recommendation of the Biden Commission. In fact, a proposal to curtail the lifetime appointment of federal judges in general, and Supreme Court justices specifically, is not outlandish. “When the founders were drafting the Constitution, a primary goal was to shield the judiciary from the political pressures of the day. English monarchs throughout the 18th century were firing judges without cause, and the founders were hoping to guarantee some level of judicial independence from the executive… (w)ith lifetime appointments, justices are free to push their personal, ideological agendas for decades with almost no accountability. So how can we move the court away from partisanship and closer to the founders’ intent?…One compelling answer is 18-year term limits, which would solve critical problems: Supreme Court justices now serve…longer on average than at any point in American history (28 years)…some hold onto their seats past their intellectual primes… It’s no longer a priority to find the best candidate for the job who will serve with integrity and who has broad life experience. Instead, the party in charge scrambles to find the youngest, often most ideological nominee (who, at the same time, knows the right things to say at a confirmation hearing) in order to control the seat for decades to come.”

This is just one proposal. In New York State, judges are subject to a mandatory retirement age at age 70. They can be recertified up to Age 76 in two-year increments. Perhaps it is not unreasonable to look at a mandatory retirement age or specific term of service for federal judges and Supreme Court justices, rather than “pack” the Court with more and more justices.

But whether or not the Democrats succeed in placing more justices on the Supreme Court, we reiterate our conclusion from when we examined this issue in September of 2020; “As a more practical matter, were a Democratic President to carry through with any scheme to increase the number of Supreme Court Justices, there is a good chance that any such plan would come back to eventually haunt the left. All politics is cyclical… were a Democratic Administration to ‘pack’ the Court in 2021, in 2032, a Republican Administration could easily either appoint more Supreme Court judges, or scale back the number then-sitting. Significant damage will have been done, no doubt. But the cyclical nature of our system will endure.”

Photo: Pixabay

Quick Analysis

Russia Expanding Aggression

President Putin is using more than one pathway to enter Europe and undermine the West. While most of the world watches the conflict he initiated in Ukraine, the Russian government is actively pursuing a second front in a little noticed campaign in Cyprus. Although the corrupt Cypriot government ended its issuance of “golden passports” in 2020, Russian intelligence is functioning quietly there to transform this EU country into a Russian beachhead of illicit economic activity aimed at penetrating the capitalist West, according to Paul Goble of the Jamestown Foundation. Cyprus is not a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) nor does it receive as much attention as those countries who are member states. That adds to its allure as a prime location for Russia to attempt to gain a European foothold. Last week a NATO report, cited in the European Daily Monitor, noted that Russian intelligence agents have been plotting to destroy European infrastructure across the continent to disrupt states supporting Ukraine. It further suggests that Putin’s immediate goal is to lay the framework for a future move against the security organization’s members. Hungary, in particular, is another country garnering Moscow’s attention as it opposes the Western response to Russian aggression. Russia is focusing its intelligence efforts on other European, non-NATO member countries in addition to Cyprus, including Austria, Malta, and Ireland. The NATO report suggests that Moscow has had success in disseminating the Russian political narrative in these states to advance its campaign against the West. The island of Cyprus is proving to be a good target for Moscow as it is an ethnically divided island that is part of the EU since 2004. Northern Cyprus, officially called the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a de facto state that is only recognized by Turkey. The division precludes it from joining NATO. As Goble suggests, “it offers Russia troubled waters in which to fish.” Over the last 20 years, he points out, Cyprus’ challenges have opened it to a massive influx of Russian citizens, who now comprise approximately 10 percent of the island state’s population. Over 2,900 residents are Russians who entered until the “golden passport” program that allowed wealthy or well-connected Russians to move to Cyprus. It also provided them with documentation to travel freely throughout Europe! Although less visible on the world’s radar than the war in Ukraine, Moscow is also being helped by Cyprus’ banks opposition to seizing Russian assets and its support in evading Western sanctions. Russia has placed tens of billions of US Dollars there for money laundering. It has been more than two years since a single Russian “diplomat” has been deported and, in fact, the Embassy has grown to over 300 staffers on this tiny island state of only 1.2 million people. The Russian embassy in Nicosia has advanced communications antennae on its roof and opened a consulate on the northern end of the island. Moscow’s Ambassador, Mura Zyazikov, is a lieutenant general in the FSB with no diplomatic experience. The FSB, SVR (Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service), and GRU are actively using the island as a base of operations against NATO Member states, Israel, and other Western allies. Moscow backs pro-Russian political parties who in turn influence Cypriot decisions on education, language, and other issues. “Dmitry Khmelnitsky of the Dossier Center says that its findings should be of concern not only to Cyprus but to the West as a whole. Those who ignore what Moscow is doing because Cyprus does not follow the EU sanctions regime are missing something critical,” says Goble. “Cyprus does not seek to get rid of Russian agents and does not interfere with their work,” Khmelnitsky concludes, “despite the fact that what the Kremlin is doing is so clearly visible.” This has an impact not only on the small island but on the EU, NATO, and the West in general. Earlier this year the Moscow Times reported that when the FBI became more interested in Russian business and oligarchs in Cyprus, at least 10 of the major Russian businesses operating there left. Despite the government of Cyprus’ vow to implement plans for new sanctions against Russia, it continues to ignore Putin’s atrocities in Ukraine and to shield the wealth of the 50,000 wealthy Russian citizens and oligarchs residing there. Daria Novak served in the U.S. State Dept. Illustration: Pixabay