Biden’s Supreme Court Plan Shows The Dems, Not Trump, Are The Threat To Democracy
American history is replete with examples of times when our country’s institutions and traditions came under attack. Whether Roosevelt’s court packing attempt, the internment of Asian-Americans during World War Two, and the recent spying on Trump and other US citizens by the FISA Court are other examples of clear violations of the constitution by the Federal Government.
James Madison famously stated that if men were angels, government would not be necessary, but the founding principle of the United States was the protection of individual liberty. The core idea that started the United States was that man’s rights come from a higher being, not government. The separation of powers is also critically important to the foundation of our Republic. If the executive branch were to infringe on other branch of government, the checks and balances that are setup protect our Democracy would erode significantly.
Joe Biden’s supposed reform proposal to change the fundamental structure of the Supreme Court represents both an attack on the judicial branch and an assault on our Democracy. First, any changes to the court should be done through the Democratic process, not actions by the Executive. Congress is the most accountable branch of government to the people, since Representatives are on 2-year terms. While there have been changes to the Supreme Court in previous periods of time in US history, if one party were to change or alter the structure of the Supreme Court without the support of the opposing political party, public trust in both the Court and the rule of law would deteriorate significantly. If one political party altered another major branch government without bipartisan support in the polarized political environment we are currently in, the already low amount of public trust the people have in the Federal Government would likely disappear entirely.
The second main change that the left is focused on is imposing term limits on Justices. The founders wanted Supreme Court Justices to have life-long terms for very specific reasons. The founding fathers wanted the court to be as insulated from politics as possible. If, as Biden is proposing, new Justices are added to the court every 2 years, the Judicial branch would become over politicized since the political parties would likely just appoint Judges with views to change recent decisions they dislike. The other problem with adding new Justices to the court every two years is that this would destroy precedent, since the court would likely be constantly changing rulings as new judges had different opinions.
Joe Biden’s absurd proposal to pack the court will likely never pass, but the left has shown once again that most of the leaders of the Democratic party no longer believe in our Democracy. The sham impeachment effort against Trump and the Mueller investigation were both attempts to remove the former President from power undemocratically, and the corrupt prosecutions of Trump are also further efforts to interfere with the upcoming election. The left will do anything to keep the former President from returning to power, and most of the Democrats have already shown they only believe in our Democracy and the country’s traditions when these institutions are making decisions the political party agrees with. The Democrats had no issue with the Court when Justices established Roe v. Wade and legalized gay marriage, the left only wants to change the structure of the judicial branch because they disagree with recent Supreme Court decisions.
The test of a Democracy is in bad times, not good ones. Individuals who do not believe in our institutions and traditions when the decisions being made are ones they don’t support do not believe in our Republic at all. There has not been a single credible argument against the legal basis of any of the recent Supreme Court decisions, and there is no evidence that any of the Justices made decisions or ruled based on anything other than the constitution and the law. While, the Supreme Court would likely benefit from adopting a more transparent ethics code, significant and unwarranted reforms to any branch of our government that are not done on a bipartisan basis would destroy public confidence in the process and erode the very separation of powers the founders intended to provide critically important checks and balances necessary in our Democratic system.
