South Carolinians deserve to know where Jaime Harrison stands on court-packing
Democrats have a long history of refusing to talk about issues that are wildly unpopular with the American people.
One of the most infamous and illustrative examples came when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, while discussing Obamacare in 2010, said “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.”
Fast forward 10 years and Democrats are taking a similar tact when asked about the controversial issue of packing the Supreme Court.
Not only has Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden repeatedly refused to answer the question, but he recently stated that Americans don’t deserve to know his position on the issue. Following Biden’s lead Sen. Kamala Harris — Biden’s running mate — has similarly refused to answer the question.
For many South Carolinians this year’s presidential campaign is the first time they have heard the phrase “court-packing.” Not since the 1930s have our nation’s leaders seriously considered such an extreme move.
Court-packing would increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court, giving the president in office the ability to fill newly created and vacant seats and thus tilting the Court in that ideological direction.
Harrison dodging issue
Like Biden and Harris, South Carolina Senate candidate Jaime Harrison is now dodging the question of whether he supports a court-packing scheme.
Though Harrison’s answer keeps changing, he has never stated he would oppose Biden-Harris court-packing if he were in the Senate.
First Harrison refused to address the question, calling it a distraction.
Now Harrison says he personally thinks of the Court as nine members, but that he would not rule out supporting court-packing.
South Carolinians will not be fooled.
They see through this sham and know that Biden, Harris, and Harrison plan to jam through court-packing — a radical assault on judicial independence — if they win Nov. 3.
Reaction to Trump’s success
President Donald Trump has enjoyed historic success in filling judicial vacancies, prompting this liberal panic. These successes include Supreme Court justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh and now, Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
Flipping the majority on the federal courts to jurists who believe in the rule of law, rather than the will of agenda-driven liberal activists, has the left searching for any means by which to retake the judiciary. Indeed federal judges are our last line of defense against government overreach and mob rule.
Roosevelt’s failed attempt
Enter court-packing.
The call to add seats to the Supreme Court is so extreme that even President Franklin D. Roosevelt was unable to achieve it at a time when Congress rubber-stamped the rest of his agenda.
In 1937 Roosevelt proposed adding six justices to the nation’s highest bench to flip the Court to one that would allow his unconstitutional New Deal policies to stand..
Congress — overwhelmingly controlled by Roosevelt’s own party — rejected the idea, and the number nine has remained secure.
Until now.
An extreme scheme
Under the Constitution the Congress sets the number of justices on the Supreme Court. If Democrats retake the Senate and the White House, Americans should expect them to attempt this extreme court-packing scheme.
Sending Harrison to the Senate would all but guarantee a future Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer the majority he needs to enact this scheme.
By increasing the number of justices from nine to 11, or more, Harrison would enable a President Biden to quickly fill those seats with agenda-driven liberals set on eviscerating the rule of law. These liberal justices will take away our constitutional rights to speak, associate, worship and protect our families.
And that’s the Democrats’ plan, even if Jaime Harrison won’t publicly admit it. South Carolina and America can’t afford to wait until Nov. 4 to find out what he believes.
Mike Davis is the founder of the Article III Project. Davis served as the chief counsel for nominations for two Senate Judiciary Committee chairmen (Sens. Lindsey Graham and Chuck Grassley). He also previously clerked for Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.
This story was originally published October 30, 2020 at 8:30 AM with the headline "South Carolinians deserve to know where Jaime Harrison stands on court-packing."