Court-packing becomes new litmus test on left

Whether or not to expand the Supreme Court is emerging as a key litmus test in the crowded 2020 Democratic presidential primary field.

Once dismissed as a fringe idea, reforming the nation’s highest court is gaining traction with a growing number of Democratic 2020 candidates as progressive outside groups and high-profile officials, including former Attorney General Eric Holder, have vaulted the idea into the national spotlight.

The courts have emerged as a lightning rod during the Trump administration for the Democratic Party’s resurgent base, which remains deeply bitter over Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) decision to block Merrick Garland, President Obama’s final Supreme Court nominee.

Supporters argue that sweeping reforms, including expanding the number of justices, are needed to counteract Trump and McConnell, who they say have “packed” the judicial system with conservative judges — including two Supreme Court justices and a record number of influential appeals court picks.

Chris Kang, the chief counsel for Demand Justice, said that the intraparty debate being driven by the party’s 2020 race made it an “incredibly important and central time to be having this discussion” and that waiting until 2021 to lay the groundwork would “be too late.”

“I think the question is whether or not they’re out of touch with just how partisan and illegitimate this Supreme Court has become in its willingness to throw out precedent and sort of the way it's undermining the rule of law. They need to come to terms with that in order to really help lead and to help push the progressive policy platform forward,” he added of the party’s 2020 contenders.

Leah Greenberg, a co-executive director of Indivisible, added that 2020 candidates who are expressing an openness to expanding the Supreme Court were “exactly right,” because “Republicans have rigged the courts and we need to make them fair and credible again.”