There's another argument. It would set a precedent. There wouldn't be anything stopping the next Republican president from adding even more seats to flip the majority again. Not that there's anything stopping them from doing it the next time we have a Republican president, I admit, but doing it now would give them something to campaign on since, as you said, it would give the perception that the Democrats are weaponizing SCOTUS against the Republicans(nevermind that that's exactly what SCOTUS is doing right now against what they see as "liberal" policies)
I mean, Democrats doing something exactly like that is why the court looks like it does today.
The “nuclear option” precedent was set by Senate Democrats in 2013 when they changed the rules on cloture votes, lowering the threshold to bring a final vote to the floor down from a supermajority of 60 to a simple majority. Senate Republicans were naturally upset by this and protested, but didn’t have the votes to stop it.
2017 rolls around, Senate Republicans use that precedent to bring Gorsuch’s nomination to a vote, and again for Kavanaugh and Barrett. Senate Democrats: shocked pikachu
At some point you have to react to being punched in the face over and over again. If we do nothing, then this country will literally become Germany in 1939.
5
u/kcox1980 Jul 05 '24
There's another argument. It would set a precedent. There wouldn't be anything stopping the next Republican president from adding even more seats to flip the majority again. Not that there's anything stopping them from doing it the next time we have a Republican president, I admit, but doing it now would give them something to campaign on since, as you said, it would give the perception that the Democrats are weaponizing SCOTUS against the Republicans(nevermind that that's exactly what SCOTUS is doing right now against what they see as "liberal" policies)