I am really happy that Biden is proposing to reform the Supreme Court (gift link!) While I would have liked the proposal include a plan to increase the size of the Court to 13 justices, just the fact that Biden is putting this out there is a big deal. Even if it never passes (and the chances are slim, especially for the constitutional amendment), just by proposing it it will change the range of things deemed possible so that this and other court reform plans get serious discussion in the future.
But there is a little part of me that is afraid this makes the Supreme Court's intervention in the 2024 presidential election more possible. One little discussed thing that really did save us in 2020 is the fact that the Supreme Court refused to hear dozens of bullshit appeals of bullshit lawsuits filed by the Trump administration or its allies over that presidential election. The January 6th Commission taught us that several people close to Trump were counting on the Supreme Court, particularly Justice Thomas, to intervene and help re-install Trump no matter what the voters wanted. It didn't work that time. But this Court really is corrupt, and Biden's proposals, particularly the binding ethical code, aims at the heart of certain Justices' gravy train.
If 5 of the Justices really think that their future power and income are threatened by a Harris presidency, will they do something to tip the scales? I don't trust the 6 conservatives at all, especially not after the last term.
