Supreme Court Fight Erupts Over Plot to End MAGA’s Grip

Evelyn Hockstein / REUTERS Democratic lawmakers are taking aim at the Supreme Court to curb its rightward shift.

They’ve grown increasingly frustrated by the court, as it has delivered sweeping conservative victories in recent years, erasing decades of progress, including scaling back the 1965 Voting Rights Act, overturning the constitutional right to an abortion, loosening campaign finance rules, and increasing executive power.

Some in the party have argued that recent rulings from the high court are more about politics, and less about the interpretation of the law.

“There’s constant and building dismay about the increasingly appalling record of the court,” Sen.

Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island, told The Washington Post.

“And I think the continuing interest in reform springs from continued dismay and concern about the court’s misbehavior,” he added.

In response, Democratic lawmakers have introduced several bills in recent months aimed at curbing the Supreme Court amid its rightward shift.

Whitehouse introduced a bill to have term limits for Supreme Court Justices, cutting their lifetime appointment to 18 years.

Under that proposal, a president would nominate a justice every other year, in an attempt to maintain an ideological balance on the bench.

“Even in a Congress like this one, where these bills have no chance of passage, it’s really important to file them and to stand by them, because they reassure people that there is in fact a mechanism by which the court could be restored to some degree of better order,” Whitehouse told the Post.

Another bill proposed by Democrats includes increasing the number of Supreme Court justices from nine to 13.

One proposal would require justices to place some assets into blind trusts, and another would create standards for rulings from the court’s emergency docket, often referred to as the “shadow docket.” The new push from Democrats for Supreme Court reform mirrors a push in 2020, when they were angered that President Donald Trump was able to nominate three justices, while former President Barack Obama had been snubbed on his pick due to maneuvering from then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who is said to be mulling a third presidential run in 2028, has called for her party to “revisit” the idea of expanding the court to 13 justices.

There are also signs that the push is picking up speed within current Democratic leadership.