(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . RESTORE JUSTICE: EXPAND THE SUPREME COURT TO 13 [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-03-05 In her concurring opinion released yesterday in the Colorado disqualification case, Associate Justice Amy Comey Barrett emphasized the need to take in to consideration the potential divisiveness which a different ruling would have if the Supreme Court upheld the Colorado’s lead court’s decision to disallow Donald Trump on their ballot in November. She insisted in Trump v. Anderson that “The Court has settled a politically charged issue in the volatile season of a Presidential election. Particularly in this circumstance, writings on the Court should turn the national temperature down, not up.” This call by Barrett to refrain from ruling on a topic of extreme political concern seems odd – to be generous - coming just days after this same Supreme Court decided to review a D.C. Circuit’s unanimous rejection of Trump’s brazen claim that he has absolute immunity for any of his conduct while President. In December Special Prosecutor Jack Smith requested that the Supreme Court take cert of the district court’s non-surprising ruling that Trump lacked such immunity. He argued that the Supreme Court should proceed to consider the matter instead of waiting for the circuit appellate court to rule because “Delay in the resolution of these charges threatens to frustrate the public interest in a speedy and fair verdict — a compelling interest in every criminal case and one that has unique national importance here, as it involves federal criminal charges against a former president for alleged criminal efforts to overturn the results of the presidential election, including through the use of official power,” The Supreme Court knew Trump was running for president again. They knew that millions of Americans, many of whom Trump and his minions sought to deprive of the effect of their vote by falsely claiming fraud and seeking to install fake electors. Yet they deliberately ignored Smith’s pleas and allowed weeks to go by while the lower appellate court made it’s ruling. Then it waited approximately two more weeks to decide to take the case and scheduled the oral hearing on the matter for April 22. This delay will cause the 1/6 case before Judge Tanya Chutkan to be delayed to the fall and perhaps could prevent a resolution before the November 2024 presidential election. Where was the court’s concern for the “national temperature” then? They ignore the legitimate concerns of the reality-based portion of the electorate who worry that these election cases will not be completed prior to the November election but repeatedly show deference to those mired in the fever swamps of Trump’s relentless and corrosive lies. So, we have now come to a point where our own inaction cannot be justified. It is time we follow precedent and restore justice to this country by expanding the size of the Supreme Court to 13 members. Article 3, Section 1 of the Constitution: “The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.” Congress exercised that power through “various Acts of Congress by altering the number of seats on the Supreme Court, from a low of five to a high of 10. In the absence of controlling constitutional text, Congress determines the size of the Court through legislation by virtue of the Necessary and Proper Clause, which allows Congress to legislate as needed to support the exercise of its enumerated powers and “all other Powers vested by th[e] Constitution in the Government of the United States,” including those of the judicial branch. More specifically, at the end of his term in 1937, President Andrew Jackson signed a law which required the number of justices on the high court to match the number of federal judicial circuits in the country. This was eminently logical in that, in addition to their duties to hear and dispose of cases as a collective, individual justices also possess and render supervisory powers over individual judicial circuits. (in 1869 an unrelated dispute over the outcome of the presidential election of 1868 caused Republicans to agree to set the number of justices at 9 as a compromise made with former secessionists no less) Currently, we have and have had 9 justices overseeing 13 circuits. It makes no sense. It’s time to restore the court to the path it was on. Will it be easy to expand the court? No. Will it have a chance to succeed? We have no idea but it is a long shot. But one thing I have learned from last week’s decision of many good citizens who voted “Uncommitted” in the Michigan Democratic primary election, you cannot make change in a democracy – which we are under real threat of losing – unless you ensure your voices be heard. Contact your Democratic senators and representatives and the President and demand they take this up. We must demonstrate we will fight for our democracy and rule of law. THE TIME IS NOW. If not now, when. If not us, who? [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/3/5/2227583/-RESTORE-JUSTICE-EXPAND-THE-SUPREME-COURT-TO-13?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/