Well that didn't take long. Cloture invoked on nominee Patricia Millett 55-43!

[markpkessinger]

64. By all means, appoint liberal justices, but please don't use the phrase "pack the courts" . . .

. . .That phrase has a really troubled history, dating back to FDR's threat to expand the number of justices on the Supreme Court in order to create a majority that was more favorable to his policies. It was a rather scandalous thing of FDR to even consider.

What's more, accusing the President of trying to "pack the courts" is precisely the language the GOP is using. Filling court vacancies as they arise is in no wise "packing the courts." If anything, the phrase is more appropriately applied to what Republicans have been trying to do with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, namely, to control the ideological balance of the court by altering the number of seats. The only difference is, they want to eliminate seats rather than add them, but the net effect is the same.