FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

EXPERTS AND ADVOCATES DISCUSS COURT EXPANSION AT PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION MEETING

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (July 20, 2021) — Today, the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court heard from a number of highly-respected experts and advocates who described the urgent need for structural reform of the Supreme Court, and included discussions on expanding the Court. Here’s some of what they’re saying:

“To effectively counter today’s existential threat to democracy, the Democratic Party must take unilateral action, much as Reconstruction Republicans did when white-supremacist Democrats lined up in solid opposition to both the enactment of postwar constitutional amendments to secure the civil and political rights of Black Americans and the passage of legislation to enforce those rights. [...] Democrats today should expand the Court to provide a center-left country with a center-left Court that will defend democracy, resist voter suppression, permit reasonable regulation of campaign finance, and cease furthering a neo-Ayn Randian policy agenda that exacerbates economic inequality and fosters democratic degradation.”

— Michael Klarman, Charles Warren Professor of Legal History at Harvard Law School and TBtC Advisory Board Member

“Polling shows that a majority of Americans support expanding the Court, perhaps because doing so would remedy the institution’s clear partisanship and favoritism of corporate interests. And to be clear, expansion is not a tool to simply swing the Court the other way, but instead to eliminate its existing bias and help preserve democratic institutions by allowing the American people to self-govern and participate in fair and open elections. The need for reform is not about the judicial philosophy of the Justices, but about the growing and clear antagonism to democracy coming from Republican politicians and the jurists they put on the bench.”

— Nan Aron, President and Founder, Alliance for Justice

“I acknowledge the irony of testifying before a Commission of legal elites. I accepted this Commission’s gracious invitation because I was part of the same legal elite culture that convinced myself that holding the line on an apolitical judiciary would strengthen our courts. I am here to admit that I was wrong. We cannot preserve an apolitical Supreme Court because we cannot preserve something that does not exist; unilaterally working toward an apolitical judiciary unfortunately is insufficient to make it so. Understanding this reality is critical to understanding what Supreme Court reform is necessary today. The goal is not to depoliticize the Court––because we can’t. Instead, the goal should be to advance democracy, and through this lens, reform must start with expansion.”

— Chris Kang, Co-Founder and Chief Counsel, Demand Justice

“Many progressives nevertheless are urging President Biden and the Democrats to answer the Republicans’ ideological Court packing with some Court packing of their own — enlarging the Court with as many as four new positions. Conservatives are opposed, of course, but so are many liberals and Democrats, who worry that it will politicize the judiciary. Yet it seems a little late for that worry. Republicans have already politicized the judiciary by brazenly and unapologetically discarding longstanding cooperative rules to make their appointments happen. So if politicization is the concern, the germane question would seem to be whether only one side is going to play that game.
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“Paradoxical as it sounds, enlarging the Court now might actually offer a way back to a less politicized process. This is a lesson we learned decades ago from psychologists and game theorists: if cooperation breaks down, the best way to restore it is tit-for-tat. Played with conviction, it’s the most effective way for both sides to learn that neither wins over time unless they cooperate. Ironically, then, tit-for-tat, hard ball for hard ball, could actually set the stage for an improved selection process and a fairer, more balanced judiciary.
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“[If] history is any guide, this risk of wounding the Court is far smaller than the alternative danger—which is that excessive concern for injuring our supposedly fragile Court becomes an excuse for doing nothing.”

— Larry Kramer, President, William & Flora Hewlett Foundation

Take Back the Court raises awareness about the urgent need to expand the number of seats on the Supreme Court to address the theft of the court by Senator Mitch McConnell during the Obama Administration. Without adding seats, Congress will not be able to restore the right to vote, ensure reproductive freedom, protect workers, halt our climate emergency, or pass new legislation. Court expansion, which can be accomplished without a constitutional amendment, is the only reform that enables the un-rigging of the system and the restoration of democracy. Learn more at https://www.takebackthecourt.today.