Exposed: Kamala’s New Plan To Forcibly Takeover Courts

Republican Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) said that if Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate for president, became president, she would back a bill that would pack the Supreme Court with new justices.

Whitehouse and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) talked about a “Supreme Court change” bill at the Democratic National Convention (DNC). The bill could pass with a clear majority if Democrats won the House, the Senate, and the White House. The bill would practically limit the court’s terms to 18 years, getting rid of Justices Clarence Thomas and John Roberts and setting rules for ethics and recusal. The Dispatch says the bill would be part of “an omnibus deal” that would also include “other top Democratic goals” and a bill that would make abortion legal across the country.

Whitehouse presented a bill last year as head of the Senate judiciary panel on the courts that would limit terms to 18 years and schedule presidential appointments every two years, just like Biden suggested. About eighty of the most important cases would only let the nine most recent justices vote. This means that if the bill became law tomorrow, the winner of the election would be able to replace Chief Justice John Roberts in 2027 and Justice Clarence Thomas in 2025.

“To get around the filibuster, we need a way for the Senate minority to have a very important say in the process,” Whitehouse said.

“Getting around the filibuster will almost certainly include permanent reproductive rights, restored voter rights, getting rid of corrupting billionaire dark money, and reforms to the Supreme Court. We don’t want to give the Republicans multiple chances to stop this bill in its tracks. If you move a bill like that, it will have great tailwinds behind it.”

Whitehouse made his statement after President Joe Biden and Harris called for Supreme Court justices to serve no more than 18 years. In an interview with the Dispatch, Whitehouse said that Harris would back his bill. However, Republicans and even some Democrats have said that it would be illegal and just court-packing with a new name.

The White House added, “Everything is subject to the will of the U.S. Senate and the House and the president’s advice as we do these things. The point of that is to make it look a little less like it’s a direct attack on judges,” he said.

Many Republicans and even some Democrats are against the bill. Adam White is a legal expert at the American Enterprise Institute. Biden put him on the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court, and in July he wrote that any law that tried to remove individual judges from their tasks would be against the Constitution.