Left-Wing Group Upset Over Kavanaugh and SCOTUS Launches "Fool-Proof" Plan to Pack the Courts

The Supreme Court in Washington is seen at sunset, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Now that President Donald J. Trump has successfully seated two new justices on the Supreme Court, the Left is going into full attack mode against the institution.

Advertisement

A new campaign called The 1.20.21 Project, which launched on Wednesday, was spurred on by Kavanaugh and the supposedly unfair nature of the balance in American courts.

These excerpts from the project site (which features a large picture of the new justice in the center of the home page) say as much.

STOLEN

Republicans stole a Supreme Court seat in 2017 and 2018, blocked an historically unprecedented number of lower court appointments under President Obama, and relied on procedural abuses to confirm Justice Kavanaugh.

HARMFUL

Supreme Court decisions have crushed unions, compromised women’s health, promoted the hyper-incarceration of people of color, and destroyed the principle of one person, one vote.

ELITIST

The Supreme Court promotes the interests of corporations and the wealthiest Americans, usually at the expense of workers and those Americans most in need.

And here I thought the Left loves the Supreme Court and the power it holds? After all, it granted women the “right” to kill their unborn children in 1973. This continues to be a sacrament to the Left. In 2015, the court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges that same-sex couples have the right to marry. These are just two examples of court decisions praised by those who now declare their absolute hatred for it.

Advertisement

Despite their protestations, the American Left is enamored with the power that the high court holds. In fact, they don’t want to reign it in, they want to expand upon it as well as the lower courts, emphasis mine.

…a new campaign to build support for expanding the Supreme Court by four justices in 2021.

The campaign, calling itself the 1.20.21 Project and being launched Wednesday, also wants to increase the size of the lower federal courts to counteract what it terms “Republican obstruction, theft and procedural abuse” of the federal judiciary. This includes the recent near party-line confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh that cemented a conservative majority on the Supreme Court.

As reported, the organizers, political scientist Aaron Belkin and writer Sean McElwee, have been joined by two Harvard professors, Mark Tushnet, and Laurence Tribe, in an effort to stop all of this judicial unfairness.

They’re angry, and they want others to be, too.

“The time is overdue for a seriously considered plan of action by those of us who believe that McConnell Republicans, abetted by and abetting the Trump Movement, have prioritized the expansion of their own power over the safeguarding of American democracy and the protection of the most vulnerable among us,” Tribe said.

Advertisement

How will they go about doing this? By hoping for Democratic Party wins in 2018 and 2020.

It is premised on Democratic victories in next month’s elections and the 2020 presidential contest that could leave Democrats in charge of Congress and the White House in 2021, a possibility but by no means a sure thing. Additional justices nominated by a Democrat could change the court’s ideological direction.

To take back the courts – and grow them – for the purpose of legislating from the bench, the Democrats need to beat the GOP on more than one election day. That’s an absolute must. As of right now, that’s quite the gamble given how fired up the Republican base is because of Kavanaugh’s treatment during the confirmation process. Add to that a booming economy and other achievements from the Donald Trump administration, and Democrats are placing all their eggs in one very unsteady basket.

But then again, this is all they’ve got.

As we’re well aware, elections have consequences. As a result of his victory over Hillary Clinton on November 8, 2016, the 45th president was afforded the opportunity to place not one, but two individuals on the highest court in the land. To do so, the rules were followed, not bent or broken. On the other hand, Democrats, while wallowing in full-fledged defeat of judicial appointments and policy wins, wish to change the rules entirely by adding more jurists to this and other federal courts. Only then do they believe that they’ll be able to bring a Leftist balance to all things and get their agenda back on track.

Advertisement

It remains to be seen just how well this strategy will work given all the factors in play. One thing is for certain, though: the Left is hoping for a major change on January 20, 2021, inauguration day.

Given how well their last “inevitable” candidate worked out, they might wake up disappointed.

Kimberly Ross is a senior contributor at RedState and a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

Recommended

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Trending on RedState Videos