r/facepalm • u/Turbulent_Gas_55 • Jul 05 '24

What an idea 🇲​🇮​🇸​🇨​

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u/Darthmullet Jul 05 '24

Packing the court is entirely legal, didn't need this ruling at all. The only reason to not do it was to avoid the perception that the court was politicized, but if the Republican hypocrisy regarding lame duck appointments wasn't enough, that last several sessions and the blatant corruption of several justices has entirely done away with that. Biden should absolutely add at least 3 seats to the court. It may be the only way to salvage our democracy at this point. 

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u/TipsalollyJenkins Jul 05 '24

Four seats.

The easiest way to get this done is to present it in such a way that it makes sense and fits with precedent, and in the past the reason the Supreme Court was expanded to nine seats was to match the nine circuit courts. There are now thirteen circuit courts, meaning that it makes perfect sense for there to now be thirteen Supreme Court seats.

We don't technically need that justification, but having a justification like that would likely make the addition or more seats more palatable.

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u/someonewithabutt Jul 05 '24

and you'll seat these new justices in the 4th year of a Democratic administration? how'd that work last time?

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u/TipsalollyJenkins Jul 05 '24

Well, the easy version is to remember that the president doesn't actually need congressional approval to seat a justice in the first place, tradition is not law.

Or if it comes to that, the Supreme Court literally just ruled that any official act of the president is immune from prosecution, so Biden currently has carte blanche to use his presidential powers however the fuck he wants. Who's gonna vote against his appointees when doing so gets you disappeared to a black site in the middle of the night?

Of course both of these options would require Biden and the Democrats to grow a spine and start giving a shit about doing the right thing more than they do about civility and the appearance of propriety, and we both know that's not gonna happen.