Just four years ago, when President Biden was campaigning for election, he told CBS’s 60 Minutes, “The last thing we need to do is turn the Supreme Court into just a political football – whoever has the most votes gets whatever they want." Presidents come and go. Supreme Court justices stay for generations.”
Former Attorney General Warns
Still, former U.S. Attorney General William Barr is warning that President Biden’s proposals are dangerous.
“In truth, ‘court reform’ is nothing more than a desperate attack to subvert the legitimacy of the Supreme Court because it contains a majority of justices committed to the Constitution and originalism,” he wrote in a Fox News op-ed. “If this coup succeeds, the rule of law will be over as the judiciary will become little more than a political tool of whomever holds power.”
Former AG Barr added, “Congress has no business interfering with the actions of the judiciary." It is the separation of powers into three district branches of government that makes our nation strong. To protect religious freedom and all of our cherished liberties, judges must be able to make decisions without fear of partisan retribution from the executive or legislative branches. Biden and Harris’ ‘court reform’ would destroy that.”
Antigun Congress Complicit
This isn’t the first time President Biden’s talked about tinkering with the Court. President Biden issued an Executive Order in 2021 forming the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States. The commission’s final report was submitted in December 2021 that explored expanding the court and introducing term limits.
President Biden wasn’t alone in his agenda to style the court in his image. Capitol Hill politicians have demanded the Supreme Court reflect on their political agenda or face their wrath. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) infamously threatened Supreme Court justices while the Court was considering an abortion case in 2020.
“I want to tell you, Gorsuch… I want to tell you Kavanaugh…, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price,” Sen. Schumer said. “You won’t know what will hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”
That’s not the only time, though, that political zealotry has overtaken the longstanding norms regarding elected representatives’ respect for the independence of the judiciary. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) took direct aim at the Supreme Court, particularly on matters of gun rights and gun control, when he wrote in an amicus brief arguing against NYSRPA v. City of New York, “Perhaps the Court can heal itself before the public demands it be ‘restructured in order to reduce the influence of politics.’ Particularly on the urgent issue of gun control, a nation desperately needs it to heal.” The irony of Sen. Whitehouse’s threat is stunning.
Vice President Rides Shotgun
President Biden has already picked up other supporters with his court reform agenda and it’s not surprising why. For obvious reasons Vice President Kamala Harris publicly supported term limits that would automatically replace justices that haven’t decided firearm-related cases the way the Biden-Harris administration team would like. That was a departure from nearly four years ago when then-Sen. Harris refused to answer a question about packing the Supreme Court. But now that the Court has ruled several times in the past few years against the wishes of gun control activists – including President Biden, Vice President Harris and those staffing The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention – the very justices this “reform” package targets are the pro-Second Amendment justices that could be the first to go. That’s because they’re the senior-most, longest tenured justices on the bench; including Justice Clarence Thomas (32 years), Chief Justice Roberts (18 years) and Justice Alito (18 years)—all of whom have voted in favor of protecting Second Amendment rights.
“Are you and Joe Biden going to pack the Court if Judge Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed?” then Vice President Mike Pence asked then-Sen. Harris, explaining that Supreme Court vacancies have been filled 29 times during election years. “But your party is openly advocating adding seats to the Supreme Court, which has had nine seats for 150 years if you don’t get your way. This is a classic case of if you can’t win by the rules, you’re going to change the rules.
That’s what appears to be happening now. Founders anticipate that this, too, may come to pass. That’s why they raised the high bar for any such changes if political players didn’t like how the Supreme Court was deciding cases before them. To change the lifetime appointments would require a Constitutional Amendment. Refer to Article V of the U.S. Constitution. President Biden’s proposals would require two-thirds approval from both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, and then must be ratified by three-fourths of the states. For those who want the numbers, that’s 290 yea votes in the House, 66 yea votes in the Senate and 38 states to agree that President Biden’s idea to subjugate the U.S. Supreme Court to political agendas is a good idea.
“But for now at least, Democrats are just dreaming (or messaging),” wrote Politico’s Eli Okun. “Either Supreme Court change would require some congressional Republicans to sign on, and a constitutional amendment on immunity would have to go through state legislatures, too.”
This could simply be dismissed as political pandering to gain votes in a competitive election cycle. However, it’s telling that President Biden, who claims his political opponent is a “threat to democracy,” is willing to burn down the very institutions that guarantee the survival of rule of law and the Republic itself.
About The National Shooting Sports Foundation
NSSF is the trade association for the firearm industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of thousands of manufacturers, distributors, firearm retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations, and publishers nationwide. For more information, visit nssf.org
