This is not your garden pack. This is court wrapping on crack. . .
MSNBC regular and Nation Correspondent Elie Mystal is one of those guests you only know comes up with the most insolent, attention-grabbing lines imaginable to keep the invites going.
At Sautrdays AM Joy, Mystal suggested this If Democrats gain control of the process, they should add up. . . 20 additional judges at the Supreme Court!
Even more eccentric than Mystal’s suggestion was his justification. Let’s review his arguments on why there should be 20 new judges. First, he claimed the Senate would “reassign judges based on qualifications, not agendas”.
As if the Democrats weren’t carefully scrutinizing candidates for strict adherence to liberal doctrine? Biden has already admitted that he is doing a “litmus test” to potential nominees in support of Roe v. Wade would impose.
Next, he insisted that there would be “more moderate judges” and “more moderate opinions”. See above: Every new candidate would be 100% classified as purely liberal. And the six or seven Conservatives in court would be completely overcrowded and their views would be irrelevant. The most extreme positions and opinions would rule the day.
And finally, if Republicans were ready to “play ball”, Mystal would be willing to have her name some of the new judges. Thank you, Elie, but does anyone really think that if Biden, Harris and Chuck Schumer had the power to nominate 20 new judges, they would offer crumbs to Republicans?
Speaking of absurd, the segment started with a clip of Kamala Harris refusing to talk about packing in court because we don’t know “who the next president will be”.
Guest presenter Tiffany Cross opened the discussion by saying that the Republicans “woke the ghost,” that is, they used a horror strategy in relation to a possible dem court wrap. She also complained that the term “trial” was “a derogatory term from the late 1930s when the FDR proposed expanding the Supreme Court to include up to 15 judges”.
But after Mystal finished his pitch for a giant court wrap, Cross agreed, “Yeah, we need it.” So not a “ghost”, but a real threat!
MSNBC’s segment to fill the Supreme Court with 20 new judges was sponsored in part by Farmers Insurance, Febreze, Fidelity and Liberty Mutual.
Here is the transcript.
AM Joy from MSNBC
10/17/20
10:35 a.m. EDT
SENATOR KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA): I mean, I’m just sorry I can’t talk about packing in court about something that hasn’t even happened, namely who will be the next president, without dealing with what they have been doing in recent years.
TIFFANY CROSS: For weeks, Republicans Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have been accusing these secret plans for unquoted court wrapping, a derogatory clause from the late 1930s when the FDR proposed expanding the Supreme Court to include up to 15 judges. And Republicans raise the specter that Dems could try something like that again.
(….)
ELIE MYSTAL: Yeah, what Republicans do is court stacking. What the Democrats are proposing is a little different. Look, I can put up the argument of vengeance for the extension of the court all day. They refused to give Garland a hearing. They get Amy Coney Barrett through during an election. They have appointed mostly white, mostly male judges. I can make the argument for revenge. But I prefer expanding the court because of its reform possibilities, right? I want a better Supreme Court, not just a Supreme Court that I can win sometimes, right?
Therefore I am in favor of adding up to 20 new Supreme Court justices to the Court. People say, “Oh, that’s 29 judges. That’s adamant.” No it is not. The current Ninth Circle Court of Appeal has just as many judges. 29 Judges are not adamant, they are diverse. The benefit of having more judges is that it fixes the problem that should be obvious to all of us by now. Our confirmation process is interrupted. It’s broken because if one of those Octagarians dies what happens in the world, it means an existential crisis for the party outside of power. Everyone is too important to our laws, our policies and our rights.
Every Supreme Court judge is frankly too important to our laws, our communities and our rights. If we had 29 judgesEvery single death would be less important, and it will be Allow us to reaffirm judges based on qualifications, not agendas.
(….)
MYSTAL: The expansion of the court allows us to lower the temperature and literally depoliticize the affirmation battle. It allows us To have more moderate judges, more moderate opinions, come out of the courts.
(….)
MYSTAL: If we could pack in court, me I’d love to have Republicans – if Republicans want to play ball, I’d love to share some of the seats with them.
CROSS: Right, yes. I mean look –
MYSTAL: But they don’t want to fix it.
CROSS: – Yes. I mean, you say court packing, court stacking, or judicial reform. Cause clear according to 218 conservative judges, we need it.
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