Opinion & Analysis | Democrats have a new playbook for pressuring and restructuring the Supreme Court – By Christopher Bedford (The Blaze) / May 24, 2024
Coordinated oppo dumps, a willing press, and a party that wants to bend the court.
It might seem strange to read that Democrats are preparing to investigate a Supreme Court justice. The legislature’s authority over the top court, after all, is seriously limited. Justices’ lifetime appointments are designed precisely to shield them from the kinds of political pressures Congress or the president might bring to bear post-confirmation.
It might seem even stranger to see Justice Samuel Alito splashed across the top of Politico’s Playbook and the New York Times morning newsletters for the high crime and misdemeanor of flying a nerdy Revolutionary War flag.
But it is part of a deliberate strategy to try to try to combat virtually the only check remaining on the Democrat Party’s political power. While Congress and the White House cannot outright remove judges, they can bring real pressure to bear, cast national doubt on rulings, and reform the court even to the point of expanding it.
The reason for all this is the Supreme Court sometimes says no to things Democrats want.
Already this year, the court has batted down Trump v. Anderson, in which a state official tried to block Republican candidate Donald Trump from the Colorado ballot for treason. They are currently considering two other cases that could decide what immunities a president has from prosecution for official duties and whether a law designed to prosecute Enron executives can be used to put Jan. 6 rioters and trespassers in prison for years.
