Politics

10180 readers

8 users here now

In-depth political discussion from around the world; if it's a political happening, you can post it here.

Guidelines for submissions:

Where possible, post the original source of information.
- If there is a paywall, you can use alternative sources or provide an archive.today, 12ft.io, etc. link in the body.
Do not editorialize titles. Preserve the original title when possible; edits for clarity are fine.
Do not post ragebait or shock stories. These will be removed.
Do not post tabloid or blogspam stories. These will be removed.
Social media should be a source of last resort.

These guidelines will be enforced on a know-it-when-I-see-it basis.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:

Socialism

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

106

We Just Witnessed the Biggest Supreme Court Power Grab Since 1803 (www.thenation.com)

submitted 5 months ago by godzilla_lives to c/politics

14 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] UngodlyAudrey 41 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (11 children)

The killer here is that we don't really have any recourse. Like, the best case scenario is what, wait until some of the right wing justices pass away and hope that the Democrats have both the presidency and the Senate? And, even then, it would take a long time to undo the damage the Roberts Court has wrought. Maybe THIS will get the Dems to ditch the filibuster and pack the court. Of course, that would require the Democratic party as a whole to show some fight, something they refuse to do for some reason.

[–] Thevenin 5 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Maybe THIS will get the Dems to ditch the filibuster and pack the court. Of course, that would require the Democratic party as a whole to show some fight, something they refuse to do for some reason.

To pack the court, Democrats need to secure:

A House + Senate majority (something they haven't had since 2009-2011)
A wide enough majority in both that no small caucus could hold the vote hostage for a personal agenda (something they haven't had since Jimmy Carter)
A president with a platform built on disruptive change rather than stability (which they haven't had since FDR)
A plan to keep Republicans out of office permanently so that they can never wield this new power in retaliation (even Lincoln messed up on that one)

They need more than just a git-r-dun attitude. Remaking the SCOTUS (rather than waiting it out) means throwing the old government away and starting over.

[–] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

A plan to keep Republicans out of office permanently so that they can never wield this new power in retaliation (even Lincoln messed up on that one)

That one is simpler than it sounds. Restore the proportionality of the House of Representatives (broken by the Apportionment Act of 1911). The GOP is a minority party and would not have a chance if their voice wasn't amplified.

[–] Thevenin 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Gotta do the same for the senate and state legislatures (including governors). Redrawing state lines is not simple.

[–] nickwitha_k@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 5 months ago

The Senate is the trickier one to solve. It was not intended to be a proportional body originally. In the short term, the balance could be impacted by not treating politicians as above the law and actually prosecuting crimes that they have openly committed.

State legislatures effectively are only going to be fixed with a new court or voters overcoming the gerrymandering.

[–] pbjamm 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Since POTUS is now above the law Biden could go hog wild and declare some Justices enemies of the state and have them sent to GITMO.

[–] Thevenin 1 points 5 months ago

Not gonna lie, that was my first thought when seeing the news. The only legitimate course for absolute power is to destroy itself.

load more comments (8 replies)