Over the next 16 years, we should add 16 justices to the Supreme Court.
How?
In addition to replacements due to retirements and deaths, each of the next four Presidents should add four new justices at the beginning of their term.
Why?
- It blunts Republican court-packing immediately. The court goes from 6-3 in favor of conservatives to 7-6 in favor of liberals. If they’re playing hardball, we have to play hardball, too.
- It short-circuits Republican retaliation in two ways. First, if we expand the court just once, then the next time Republicans take over, they’ll have to expand it again, and we get into a tit-for-tat arms race. This idea expands the court four times in the next 16 years, so no arms race.
- Another way it short-circuits Republican retaliation is by laying out a plan for the next 16 years. To foil this devious plan, Republicans would have to repeal the law that implements it. As we saw with ACA, good luck repealing a popular law. That’s why this is better than one-and-done.
- It’s fair and balanced. If Republicans want to appoint justices, they can do it, if and only if they win Presidential elections. (Of course, if we pass a new voting right act, strengthen election security, and add DC and Puerto Rico as states, it will be that much harder for Republicans to win elections. See “hardball” above.)
- By getting to 13 justices immediately, we immediately match the number of circuits. Each judge supervises one circuit.
Why 25?
- The final number, 25, is roughly two times thirteen.
- The biggest problem with having only 9 justices is that as we have seen, a sufficiently determined, sufficiently disciplined, sufficiently ruthless political party can succeed in packing the court in about 40 years. We need a much bigger number. With 25 justices, it will be impossible to pack the court in less than 100 years. Court packing will become a thing of the past.
- For the last 40 years, each Supreme Court confirmation has been a cage-match-to-the-death. That’s because there are so few justices. With 25 justices, there will be a lot less at stake each time a vacancy opens. Cage-match-to-the-death will become a thing of the past.
- Retirements and deaths will be more frequent. That means confirmation hearings will be a lot more frequent, and they’ll fade into the news-of-the-day background. We’ll be spared all this drama.
- With 25 justices, there will be less opportunity for a small number of them to form a cabal and inflict something like Bush v. Gore on the country, ever again.
- Hopefully, with more justices looking over each other’s shoulders, there will be less opportunity for a goofball to influence decisions. If somebody appoints a goofball, they’ll be given the goofball office and some colorful Play-Doh to occupy their time.
- The court will be more resilient to sicknesses and absences of individual justices. Many hands make light work!
Of course, this assumes we win the trifecta. If Republicans keep the Senate, we’re in four another four years of nonstop obstruction.