About this episode:
President Donald Trump has nominated conservative favorite Judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg on the Supreme Court. Democrats are calling on Republicans to follow the precedent they set in 2016, when Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to hold confirmation hearings for President Obama’s pick to replace Justice Antonin Scalia when he died eight months before the election.
But Republicans likely have the votes to confirm Barrett, and if they succeed, they will have a 6-3 advantage on the Supreme Court. In response, momentum is growing among Democrats around the idea of expanding the Supreme Court. Host Trymaine Lee talks with Aaron Belkin, a political scientist at San Francisco State University, and founder of the advocacy group Take Back the Court, who has spent the last few years trying to change minds on this issue. He argues court expansion is the only way to overcome the court’s conservative majority to better reflect the will of the American people.
Find the transcript here.
Further Reading and Viewing:
- Trump Court pick Amy Coney Barrett’s past critiques on Obamacare face scrutiny
- Democrats lament Amy Coney Barrett pick but say ‘we can’t stop the outcome’
- Progressives pledge to keep pushing Biden to expand Supreme Court