A group of 20 Republican state attorneys general are making their opposition to expanding the Supreme Court known.
The GOP attorneys general penned a letter to President Joe Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) calling efforts to expand the Supreme Court a “naked political power grab.”
They wrote, “We believe that such actions will seriously undermine our constitutional system, the public’s confidence in our courts, and the rule of law.”
The attorneys general noted Alexander Hamilton said in the Federalist Papers, “The complete independence of the courts of justice is peculiarly essential in a limited Constitution.”
They explained, “From the beginning of our Republic until the present, there has been a robust history of judicial independence.”
Mentioning President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s attempt to “pack the Court,” the Republicans added, “The Senate recognized the importance of an independent judiciary and the harm that such an action would cause.”
Additionally, the attorneys general argued, “The Justices of the Supreme Court have repeatedly shown their independence, despite their differences and labels some have put on them. When elected officials do not like the outcome in a case, that is not a sign of the politicization of the Court, but of the system working.”
They concluded, “After all, the whims of elected officials are the very thing against which the Court is there to protect the people.”
Earlier this month, Biden ordered the creation of a bipartisan commission to study possible changes to the Supreme Court.
“The Commission’s purpose is to provide an analysis of the principal arguments in the contemporary public debate for and against Supreme Court reform,” the White House said in a statement.
Last week, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked if Biden supports a Democratic bill to pack the court.
She said one of the issues the commission will look at is “of course, the size of the Court, but they’ll also look at the Court’s role in the constitutional system, the length of service, the turnover of justices, and they’re going to come back to the president with a report on what their discussions are and what their findings are.”
Psaki added, “So he’s going to wait for that to play out, and wait to read that report.”
