Tag Archives: Supreme Court

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To Pack the Court, or Not to Pack the Court

Normally, I offer a witty anecdote to lure my readers in to care about what I’m writing about. It normally works. Today, I just want to get into the dirty topic of packing the court. This is a concept where one party rams in a bunch of judges “on their team”, a process that ultimately happens when every new president comes into power. Did RBG’s seat get stolen from the Democrats? That’s a loaded question, isn’t it? Now, should they have rushed through a vote as an election was going on when they wouldn’t for President Obama, just because it was “their team”? The answer is absolutely not. Any reasonable person would see that as a hypocritical power grab. But, I would also argue that the Supreme Court is supposed to be the one governmental body that isn’t supposed to have any other side than the Constitution.

So, this topic of now that President Biden is in office we should magically create new seats to pack the court is insane to me. Why? Because if the roles were reversed, the Democrats would be crying at how this is a power grab from the Republicans. Then the other party comes into office, does the same thing, and we are now in a loop of just adding more judges so until we have 1000 Supreme Court justices. Doesn’t anyone else see how ridiculous it is and how both parties should be against this? Packing the courts isn’t the problem; the problem is the lifetime appointments.

There should be term limits for a justice. Maybe they can only serve for 10-20 years. Maybe they only serve 8. There would be no need to pack a court if there is no lifetime appointment. They do their job for a limited amount of time, then fresh perspective and insight gets added in after the term. That’s a logical approach. That’s a reasonable answer to this problem. Times are always changing, so why have a 90 year old judge that can barely think straight make these important decisions that directly impact our lives? Imagine, just imagine, if we truly get impartial judges to serve for their term, and then we just get a new one to replace them. This can be staggered so that there are some veterans on the bench. But, why not avoid the major problems we have no by implementing some type of term limit. (I’m also 100% on the side of having term limits for every politician, in case you’re wondering.)

I’m a big fan of common sense. And court packing isn’t common sense. The logical approach is not to add more judges to the problem, but to fix the underlying cause of the problem: lifetime appointments. That is the wave of the future.

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Today’s Controversial Political Post: The Supreme Court

I’m a writer. I’m a student of literature. I’m not a Poli-Sci major from an elite school. I’m just a writer with an opinion. That’s a scary thing to be in such a divisive world today. While some pass their opinions (often ill-informed ones, at that) off as facts, I very clearly point out that I write opinions. If I had to separate myself from personal bias to write a piece, I could easily do so unless I’m told to write something that is absolutely against my beliefs. I won’t lie and I won’t lie about something I so passionately believe in. These scruples are what led my journey away from the world of journalism.

Today, I’m theorizing based on my own opinions about the recent events in the Supreme Court. I’m theorizing what I think the Supreme Court should do and be. Opinions. These are opinions that you don’t have to agree with. I’m certain that some will be angry and post about how I’m just a dumb writer, a pawn for the liberals. I’m not a pawn for the liberals. You may have a point with the “just a dumb writer” thing though. I concede that point.

I watched part of the Brett Kavanaugh testimony. I watched enough to pick up on tells, where he was obviously lying. The thing about writers is that they have a keen eye for observation, something very useful when you are delving into creating characters. Every sip of water, every bit of body language sang like a bird. I won’t argue whether or not he did it. If he did, he has no place on the Supreme Court. (If you want my opinion, my instincts tell me he definitely did it. Still opinion.) This is about whether or not he was lying, which I could say with a fair amount of certainty that he was. When asked a question he was nervous about answering, he sipped from his glass of water. In the short time I watched, he easily drank 3 bottles of water. (exaggeration, but that was a lot of water.) He resorted to yelling and evasion tactics when he was trying to avoid the lie. Then when he lied, his face contorted. He lied. I don’t think that innocent people can’t lie. But a Supreme Court nominee is held to a higher standard, as should anyone in such a powerful position including our President should be held.

If this was a temporary position of power, I probably would let the lying thing slide. It’s not. The problem with the Supreme Court is that it is a lifetime appointment. If he goes through, we will have a (again, my opinion) questionable human being who doesn’t seem to have any concern about the law on the seat of the highest court in our country. If the people of the Republican party were smart about this, they would have cut their losses as soon as they found out (potentially months ago) rather than back a sub-par choice. They would have found someone better fit for the position. I would have respected it if they did that. The Supreme Court justice is not supposed to represent a party; they are supposed to represent the constitution. More and more, the job that they are supposed to be doing is coming down to party lines much like the rest of the country. It’s not supposed to be that way. It wasn’t intended to be that way. This fact makes it even more important to consider maybe not having lifetime terms.

The end result, and I could be very wrong here, is that they push Kavanaugh through and rile up the masses. Some, not as logical as I am, would be pissed based on the fact that Occupy Democrats told them to be pissed. Me? I’m bothered because I think he is unfit because of how this whole thing happened. The masses will fight and any Republican that was teetering on the edge of losing will probably lose. In fact, that may be exactly why they are rushing this anyways because they know that things may not be looking so great for them right now and they need to get a guy in before midterms take place. Ultimately, this could be a huge downfall in a country were people are already getting bored with the current way things are getting done.

As an independent who has been very vocal about my stance on getting rid of the 2-party system in place, this does make me a little happy to watch the world burn. Maybe now people will realize that maybe this 2-party system isn’t working out, that neither party gives a crap about. them. 3rd party candidates might not either, but at least then you have more viable choices than some talking head from one of 2 parties. I hope Kavanaugh doesn’t get confirmed not because he was nominated by Trump but because I want someone that is trustworthy, someone who upholds the law of the land not a party’s agenda. I fear that Kavanaugh is a party man, not a law man.