Elie Mystal: SCOTUS can't be dictated by McConnell's 'whims'

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

The Nation’s justice correspondent Elie Mystal joins MSNBC’s Chief Legal Correspondent Ari Melber to discuss the avenues ahead for Democrats to prevent the Senate from voting on Trump’s next SCOTUS nominee. Mystal argues that more justices on the Supreme Court would be beneficial for the country, saying “the more justices on the Supreme Court there are, the less important any one random death is to our polity.”

Video at link

https://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari/watch/elie-mystal-scotus-can-t-be-dictated-by-mcconnell-s-whims-92267589524

[dalton99a]

1. Expand the court, or live under Republican rule forever.

[samsingh]

2. scotus has to expand

[Bettie]

4. Yes. It does.

I just hope our party has the will to do it.

[octoberlib]

3. I saw Elie on MSNBC last night and he has some good arguments.

Chuck Rosenberg said that if we expand the court then the Republicans will do the same when they're back in power and where will it end?

Elie said so what if there's a 100 judges on the SC. The Circuit Court has 29 judges . Why does the SC have only nine? He said they could assign cases by lottery and this would stop a lot of the bullshit lawsuits brought forward by the GOP because they wouldn't be assured the same conservative judges all the time.

[Bettie]

5. This is such an important point too

and a great argument for an increase.

Also, the argument that they could hear more cases is a good one.

[SharonClark]

6. I was shocked when he suggested 100 judges but his explanation made sense.

[Nevilledog]

7. It would also stop the devastating consequences when a justice retires or dies.

The current number allows for minority power rule at the highest level of the judicial branch.

[Yavin4]

8. Thanks for posting this. It's obvious to me that adding more justices to the SCOTUS is the way to

go.

Keep your post handy as the go to argument for people who argue against expanding the court.

[myccrider]

9. Thx for posting this.

I was thinking along the same lines as Chuck Rosenthal (sp?) that the Rs would just retaliate the next time they had power. Elie has convinced me that expanding the court, instead, dilutes their ability to use this cudgel and makes SC appointments, and thus the court itself, much less political.

There may also be a way to limit the game of trying to pack the court by expanding it each time one party has control of the gov by tying the max number of SC justices to some formula involving the population or number of representatives in the House or number of states or circuit courts (which also need expansion)...or something.

It’s a similar argument to getting rid of the requirement for Congress to reauthorize raising the debt ceiling every few months and taking away that political football power play, too, besides just being the right thing to do. As if the USA would default on its debts!

[Greybnk48]

10. Expansion of the Supreme Court that he suggests

Would definitely be a stabilizing factor fo the Court and the country. No more drama in life or death matters. It’s become emotionally exhausting over the decades.