Today, September 22, 2020, Utah Senator Mitt Romney announced he would not oppose a vote on a Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. This signals the death knell for Democratic hopes that four Republicans might jump ship and oppose any immediate vote.
Several Democratic members of Congress, and former Attorney General Eric Holder, have screamed that the proper response for the Democrats is to pack the Supreme Court with additional judges should the Democrats win both the White House and the Senate in the November 2020 election.
I regard the idea of court packing as an empty threat. If the Democrats take the Senate it will be by a razor thin margin. They would have to gut the filibuster — something that would be a controversial move even within the Senate Democratic Caucus. FDR’s attempt to pack the court turned out to be a disaster for him.
Complicating matters for the Democrats is that Ruth Bader Ginsburg opposed court packing. “Nine seems to be a good number. It’s been that way for a long time,” she said, adding, “I think it was a bad idea when President Franklin Roosevelt tried to pack the court.”
Joe Biden has gone on record as opposing court packing. “I’m not prepared to go on and try to pack the court, because we’ll live to rue that day.”
The majority of the American people oppose court packing.
Republicans must not waver based upon empty threats by Democrats to pack the court.
