Pack the Supreme Court

Republicans haven't been playing fair with the nation's highest court. It's time for Democrats to fight back.

The Supreme Court.
(Image credit: Illustrated | J2R/iStock, imagoRB/iStock, mj0007/iStock)

President Trump reportedly has big plans for the Supreme Court seat of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

A report from Axios suggests Trump is "saving" appellate court justice Amy Coney Barrett, an anti-choice hardliner, for the 86-year-old Ginsburg's seat, should it soon be vacated. The mere possibility of Ginsburg, an almost mythical celebrity on the left, being replaced by another hard-right ideologue will only deepen the debate in Democratic circles about the idea of adding seats to the Supreme Court, better known as court packing. This proposal was once fringe, but is becoming increasingly commonplace, and that's a good thing.

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David Faris

David Faris is an associate professor of political science at Roosevelt University and the author of It's Time to Fight Dirty: How Democrats Can Build a Lasting Majority in American Politics. He is a frequent contributor to Informed Comment, and his work has appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times, The Christian Science Monitor, and Indy Week.