Losing the People? Then Change the Rules
Victor Davis Hanson / @VDHanson / May 05, 2022
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Court-packing—the attempt to enlarge the size of the Supreme
Court for short-term political purposes—used to be a dirty word in
the history of American jurisprudence.
The tradition of a nine-person Supreme Court is now 153 years
old. The last attempt to expand it for political gain was President
Franklin Roosevelt’s failed effort in 1937. FDR’s gambit was so
blatantly political that even his overwhelming Democratic majority
in Congress rebuffed him.
Yet now “court packing” is a law school cause celebre. It is
hailed as a supposedly quick fix to reverse the current 5-4 conser-
vative majority.
Recently, a rough draft of an opinion purportedly overturning
the Roe v. Wade decision that had legalized abortion in all 50 states
was leaked to the media by someone inside the court.
That insider leak of a draft opinion was a first in the modern
history of the Supreme Court. It violated all court protocols. Yet it
was met with stunning approval from the American left.
The leaker either intended to create a preemptive public backlash
against the purported court majority in the hope that one or two jus-
tices might cave and switch under pressure—or to gin up the progres-
sive base to fend off a likely disaster in the November midterm
elections.
The recent leak, however, is consistent with a left-wing assault
on the court that has intensified over the last five years. Democrats
have gone ballistic ever since former President George W. Bush’s and
especially former President Donald Trump’s appointees solidified a
conservative majority.
During Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings in 2018, pro-
testers stormed the Senate chambers in protest. The left rallied
behind the now-convicted felon Michael Avenatti, who publicized
crazy, wildly untrue charges about a teenaged Kavanagh.
Later in spring 2020, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., whipped up a
protest crowd right in front of the Supreme Court. He directly
threatened Justices Neil Gorsuch and Kavanaugh:
(I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you
have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won’t
know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.)
What exactly did Schumer mean by “you will pay the price” or
“you won’t know what hit you”?
Who or what would hit the two justices—and how exactly?
But it is not just the court the left is targeting. Long-standing
institutions and even constitutional directives are now fair game.
At the 2020 funeral of Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., former President
Barack Obama crudely proposed bringing in Puerto Rico and Washington,
D.C., as states—and with them likely four left-wing senators.
Obama’s “eulogy” also damned the 180-year-old Senate filibuster.
Yet as a senator, Obama himself resorted to the filibuster in an ef-
fort to block the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.
The Electoral College is under continued assault, especially
since Bush in 2000 and Trump in 2016 were elected without winning the
popular vote.
The Founders’ arguments for the Electoral College are never men-
tioned. But the drafters of the Constitution felt it forced candi-
dates to visit rural areas. They believed it would discourage Euro-
pean-style multiple splinter parties. It made voter fraud more dif-
ficult on a national scale. And it emphasized the United States of
America. That is, America today is 50 unique states that are repre-
sented as such in presidential elections.
The Biden administration also narrowly failed to push through a
national voting law. Such legislation would have superseded the
states’ constitutional rights to set most of their own balloting
protocols in national elections.
So what is behind leaking Supreme Court drafts of impending
opinions, or seeking to pack the Supreme Court with 15 justices, or
ending the Senate filibuster, or adding two more states to the 60-
year-old, 50-state union, or curtailing states’ rights to set their
own balloting procedures, or trashing the Constitution’s Electoral
College?
The answer to those questions also applies to President Joe
Biden’s promise to cancel millions of contracted federally guaran-
teed student loans simply by a pre-midterm election executive fiat.
And how can Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas open-
ly negate federal immigration law? How can he welcome millions to
cross illegally the southern border?
The answers are obvious.
The hard left had detoured from the mainstream of American voters
onto a radical trajectory. So it will never find 51% public approval
for any of its current extremist and crackpot initiatives.
Instead, it sees success only through altering the rules of go-
vernance or changing the demography of the electorate—or both.
Still, leftists should be careful about what they wish for.
Latinos are historically transforming en masse into conservative
voters.
Leftists are also greenlighting powerful precedents for the next
Republican president. He may follow their lead by simply changing any
rules, laws, customs, and traditions anytime he deems them
inconvenient.
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These are evil enemies of America and we must pray to God that He
will deliver us from evil. Pray without ceasing.
Conservatively,
John
Conservativelyjohn.com 