1y ago

Biden pledges to name progressives to the Supreme Court, suggesting he expects vacancies

www.cnn.com

Biden pledges to name progressives to the Supreme Court, suggesting he expects vacancies | CNN Politics

President Joe Biden promised Black voters Wednesday that he would appoint progressives to the US Supreme Court if elected to a second term, suggesting he expects vacancies on the high court over the next four years.

“The next president, they’re going to be able to appoint a couple justices, and I’ll be damned — if in fact we’re able to change some of the justices when they retire and put in really progressive judges like we’ve always had, tell me that won’t change your life,” he said during a campaign rally in Philadelphia.

It was as explicit a warning as Biden could offer about the stakes of the upcoming election, and a clear reminder that some of the nine justices have entered their seventies.

Clarence Thomas is 75 and Samuel Alito is 74; both are conservative and appointed by Republican presidents. Sonia Sotomayor, a liberal who was nominated by President Barack Obama, turns 70 next month.

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1y ago

Biden pledges to name progressives to the Supreme Court, suggesting he expects vacancies

www.cnn.com /2024/05/29/politics/biden-pledge-progressives-supreme-court-vacancies/index.html

152 comments

Biden's going to need everyone's help. Turn the Senate and the House super Blue. Even if you hate Biden because of Israeli support, vote for your Rep and Senator that can deal with this corruption. Add to the bench until the traitors Thomas and Alito become irrelevant. Revise the number of Senate and House seats.
- Even if you hate Biden because of Israeli support,
  Trump said that "he (Trump) fully support's Israel's Gaza genocide."
  Anything Biden can do, Trump can (and would) do worse.
  
  Anything you can do, I can do better. I can do anything better than you.
  Biden: I can support Israel’s killing of people in Gaza Trump: I will deport anyone that supports Palestine
  
  Having been around awhile, it's so weird that people are trying to make the case that a republican presidency could be a good thing for... just about any country in the middle east. Not saying that any party is going to spend much time on it, but it's just a weird stretch.
  
  The craziest thing to me are those further leftists threatening to abandon Biden and let Trump walk in.
  I mean, they can complain and oppose the democrats all they want but they should also never ever forget that today’s GOP is just the latest incarnation of the leftist’s longtime fascist enemy. Keeping them from power is and always has been a top priority.
  
  I hate that this sounds so dumb but we now live in a world where the truth sounds stupid
  
  Again, a vote for a giant douche or a turd sandwich.
  
  People keep claiming this, but never actually specify how Trump could possibly be worse than full-on support for genocide. Biden is 100% for the genocide, he has proved this and has put zero restrictions or conditions on Israel's far-right regime.
  What we're seeing in Gaza under Biden will be the exact same thing we see under Trump.
  This is not the argument neolibs want to be making at this time.
- Even if you hate Biden because of Israeli support
  i.e. don't be a single-issue voter.
  
  I'm a single issue voter and my single issue is proportional representation - I'll be voting for Biden but if a major party candidate did genuinely advocate for voting reform they'd probably have me.
- I hate most of the Democratic party. I fear the Republican party. So yeah I'll be holding my nose and voting D.
  
  That would be a decent protest. Have all the frustrated D voters wear a clothespin on their nose when they go to vote for the lesser evil.
  Could actually get more people off the couch. Frustrated progressive voters would want to increase the ratio of "nose plug voters" to more effectively send their message to Biden while also helping kick out the Republicans.
  
  I'll be counting on you as a Canadian :)
  It's easy to fall into a defeatist attitude with how fucked up everything is, but change starts with a belief that things can be changed.
  
  same
- I just want the GOP to get absolutely pummeled for once so we can move the overton window back in the right direction. No I don't like the dems. Yes I will vote for them every time as they represent the closest to what I want.
  
  Not going to happen while they're still taking AIPAC money, that shit is toxic to actual turn-out for Dems at this point.
  
  Voting dem still moves the overton window right. "Vote blue no matter who" rewards them time after time for sprinting right chasing voters that were never going to vote for him while becoming too right even for centrists
- Hijacking this comment thread to promote Ranked Choice Voting.
  
  And theres only one party that has outlawed RCV in certain areas. We aren't getting RCV without 2 things:
  -Primary moderates and elect progressive Democrats at every level we can -A Democratic supermajority in Congress
  
  RCV, Approval, and STAR my beloved
  
  Boo RCV - we should just go parliamentary and stop direct election of the executive branch!
- People need to remember that Biden merely supports Israel, Trump would have nuked Palestine off the face of the Earth by now.
- Biden should be scared of losing his job or he has no incentive to do what the people want.
- You have a list of senators and house reps that will keep Biden and potentially Trump in check?
  
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_members_of_the_Congressional_Progressive_Caucus
  In terms of which progressive candidates are running to beat incumbents that varies from state to state.
Actually progressive or "biden is the most progressive president in recent US history" progressive? I'll take either over the alternative, but I'd love it if it was more than former than the latter.
- If he promises to let Bernie Sanders pick them then I bet he'd gain whole percentage points in polls.
  
  Can Bernie be president on Wednesdays and Thursdays?
- Cmon, you know it's the latter.
  
  Still a lot better than anything Trump would come up with.
- They'd absolutely still be massive corporatists who think freedom dies if Americans can actually afford any of their basic needs.
- I'll take anyone who isn't a corporate careerist at this point. The people sitting on the supreme court shouldn't be expecting to leverage it to make an exhorbitant amount of money.
- At least he's talking about the views of a justice he might pick, rather than what race and sex they're going to be as though that's the most important criteria.
  
  Yes, but he's also shown himself willing to say anything to get support and votes. He had a lot of big progressive talk during his campaign when he was against Sanders, but then dropped that facade pretty much within the first few months and started giving out corporate handjobs.
- Actually progressive or “biden is the most progressive president in recent US history” progressive?
  He's going to appoint Merrick Garland again.
- I read this in the voice of the alien from omicron persei 8 on Futurama
  
  Put some respect on LUR RULER OF THE PLANET OMICRON PERSEI 8’s name
- The fact that Alito lives in a suburb near some random out of work actress and the worst his wife has experienced is unpleasant signs shows we are the most peaceful human beings as citizens regarding their politicians.
  
  we are the most peaceful human beings as citizens regarding their politicians
  And yet we have some of the most sadistically violent police. Curious.
"Just as soon as the court decides that the President is immune from prosecution, I expect there will be six vacancies soon after." wink
- TBH, I think that's an excellent threat to get them off their asses on the Trump decision pending. Even if he doesn't mean to kill them, it would be a no-brainer for congress to impeach them given the lack of republican party cohesion over Trump candidacy.
He should pull an FDR and try to get the court expanded to 12.
- 11 or 13. You don't do even numbers on the SC so there aren't voting ties.
  
  13 makes the most sense. There are 13 circuits, why not 13 Supreme Court justices?
  
  Yeah agreed. I never quite understood FDRs thinking on putting an even number of people in the court. We have so many 5-4 decisions now an even court would be chaos.
  
  Can’t they recuse or abstain from voting though?
  
  12 with ties being decided by a season of survivor.
- 13 is a better number, it matches the number of Federal Appelate Courts.
  If Democrats manage to take both houses of Congress and the Presidency, I would advocate for immediately passing a law to increase the size of the SC to 13, effective for the start of the SC's 2026 term.
  Then, Democrats and Republicans should go to work to enact a Constitutional Amendment for term limits on the SC. Republicans would finally have incentive to do it quickly, or else Biden would name 4 young Liberals to the SC who will be there 40+ years without term limits.
  
  also 13 original colonies.. 13 stripes on the flag.
  some magahead: so that means 1.2..3..4.....7 republicans........ and 1..2....6 confederates?
  
  I think a better solution should tie SC seats to the number of federal district courts. That way, should the number grow in the future, SC seats will be added automatically
  
  If I'm not mistaken, Biden could add seats if he wanted to, so could any president. I think no one wants to do it because then the other party would add more as well.
- I wish he would. The only thing stopping him, ironically, is his fear of appearing partisan (and angering “moderate” republicans, if they even exist anymore), despite the fact that that’s exactly what this would be attempting to remedy.
  I’d love to be wrong, but he’ll never do it. He’s barely even willing to talk about the supreme court’s corruption and blatant bias. I think he’s allergic to that much institutional change.
  
  He called Trump semi-fascist in 2022 and backed off since. Biden does not push the limits of any power he wields.
  You'll note there has been an endless amount of arguments about Biden's limitations to his ability and power to effect change, but never that he is pushed up against those limits.
  Biden was most popular when he was fighting for Green New Deal and BBB. But his inability to whip his party into voting for the platform the Democratic party ran on was disappointing and he has never recovered.
- He won’t. Biden would have done it already.
Well, since it is legal for a President to order assassinations… why not open SCOTUS up to some new blood?
It's very likely the GOP will win control of the Senate, and if they do McConnell would sooner die than let Biden even consider nominating someone.
Still gonna vote for Biden though, because if Trump wins the Conservative justices will all retire at once and they'll nominate 30-year-olds to fill in. I don't want 60+ more years of a Conservative court majority!
- McConnell has already said he would step down from Senate leadership, so some other guy would get the task of impeding everything Biden does.
  However, things are looking better than they used to that Democrats will at least be able to hold the Senate to a 50/50 split, and possibly also pick off Ted Cruz in Texas. Democrats who are not fond of Biden don't seem to be taking it out on their Senate candidates. There are several states where Biden is trailing, yet the incumbant Democratic Senator still has a good lead.
  
  McConnell has already said
  Let me stop you right there, because this man has already shown his word doesn't mean anything. It shifts with the political winds.
  Democrats have to win in a lot of red states this time around. I'd be over the moon if that happened, but maybe we should have a backup plan in case Democrats lose in Ohio, Montana and Texas.
  
  Biden not causing many stiffies will have a negative impact on the number of those actually going to the polls though
  
  Ted Cruz losing his senate seat would unironically be celebrated by every single person there. Republicans hate that guy. They appreciate his vote, but he is absolutely despised.
"Expecting vacancies" could be interpreted as an axe-related threat against some of the more conservative judges. I'm not 100% opposed to the idea.
- “Will no one rid me of these turbulent judges?”
  
  "Then I will!"
  Dark Brandon, wielding the axe himself
While it's POSSIBLE there will be vacancies in the next presidential term, the two oldest, Thomas and Alito, will still be younger in 2028 than Biden is now.
So I wouldn't exactly hold my breath on Biden getting the picks.
Whoever serves from '28 to '32 will likely get to replace both Thomas and Alito, then the next two oldest are Roberts and Sotomayor.
- According to Trump's lawyers, Biden could use Seal Team Six to ... create some vacancies.
  Clearly never going to happen, but it's too silly of an actual legal argument to ignore.
This had better not be a “well, we waited to fill these until the election year so that we can use it to mobilize the base”.
One, because it’s terribly cynical and self serving.
Two, because it doesn’t work on progressives nearly as well as they think. It runs the risk of alienating voters because they don’t feel respected for 3.5 years out of 4.
- I don't think it is (though Dems seem to pull that often). Supreme Court Justices seem to have a very hard time letting go of the power, even on the more progressive side (Notorious R.B.G. being the most recent example). There's basically no way to remove a supreme court justice, impeachment will pretty much never happen. I think it's more recognizing that multiple who are 75 years old in a stressful job and being targeted by the public more and more is likely to lead to at least one of them leaving, be it death or retirement.
Doubt any would retire willingly. It's a sad state of affairs that judges will go until death before allowing the other side replace them.
Nah, triple the size and pack it full. It's our only hope.
- Playing devil's advocate but couldn't that backfire spectacularly? The ~~born again nazis~~ Republicans play the long game and we could see even larger scrotus stacked with ~~nazis~~ Republicans.
  
  They'll do that as soon as it suits them anyway.
He won't. They'll be centrist/liberals at best
Or he expects there to be no vacancies, giving him the option to say whatever he thinks might get him votes without ever having to follow through on his promises.
- Or expanding the court is on the table, also a way to create vacancies
so now on top of not being that other he is saying he will be a better president in the next four years because he thinks people might die
he is really grasping at straws at this point
executive order abortion rights in, legalize cannabis, and raise the minimum wage a lot
that alone would guarantee him this next election no debates or speeches or anything else would be needed
- Is executive order enough to raise the minimum wage?
  I guess he could order all federal agencies will only work with companies that pay some new minimum.
  Feels like abortion would get destroyed by the 5th circuit and the supreme court just like many of the other things they've tried to do
- Unlike what most people think, executive orders aren't magic documents that lets the President legislate whatever they want on a whim. There are limits. They've grown a lot in scope over the decades, and if anything they need to be pulled back, but there are still limits.
  
  I agree, and on paper you are correct. But also I have moved to the "it's the thought that counts" side of things. It seems to be more effective politicking these days to try and ram through something like an abortion EO and use the inevitable opposition (and legal?) pushback to say "see I'm fuckin trying over here" rather than to just stand there idly brandishing "plans" this is something the left needs to learn from the right. See the senate: Chuck Schumer should have started impeachment inquiries into Alito and Thomas yesterday, knowing full well they aren't actually going anywhere. It puts the issue in front of people.
It suggests that Republican SCOTUS judges might want to retire but they aren't under any obligation to do so in the next 4 years. Unless he's ready to pull the trigger on court reforms or he's got an assassin lined up this is just another empty promise.
Not sure whether to poke at the fact that there probably won't be any vacancies or that he would actually choose a progressive considering people are resigning from his administration every week over Gaza.
"Whelp, I tried but we can't get the votes to confirm them"
- Term limits please!
- Actually vacancies are not required. There is no set limit.
  
  Expand the court!
On average since Washington, each Presidential term has had 2.1 SCOTUS appointments. It's not a bad expectation, statistically speaking. But it's just an average, since Biden only has one so far, and Trump got three.
- averages, am I right (wheres my FUCKING .1?)
Progressives, conservatives. Whatever. Just give me someone with a moral compass and a spine.
- So, progressives?
  
  Honestly the best trick conservatives ever pulled was convincing people that everyone is as immoral and spineless as they are. "All politicians / judges / whatever are corrupt" is complete bullshit, but somehow people seem to have bought into it
  
  When are you guys going to come out of the closet and start openly calling yourselves Marxists?
- Fuck "morality". Morality has a well-known progressive bias.
Always add more cooks to kitchen for better food, no that's not the saying...
- Obviously, the problem with the SCOTUS is that there's too many of them. If we were to make John Roberts the singular all-powerful Supreme-ist justice, that would fix everything.

152 comments