Court Packing Q&A

Supreme Court Coup Explained

WHAT IS THE SUPREME COUP?

The Supreme Coup is a brazen attempt by the Left to fundamentally alter the U.S. Supreme Court through court packing and court purging.

1. Court packing refers to efforts to add justices to the U.S. Supreme Court for political and partisan reasons. (Note: Nine has been fine since 1869.
2. Court purging refers to efforts to remove justices from the U.S. Supreme Court permanently (by forcing justices out through term limits) or temporarily (by implementing a binding ethics code that will produce endless recusal demands for justices in key cases).

If such attempts are successful, they will destroy the independence of the judiciary. But an independent judiciary is the last safeguard of our civil liberties.

WHY IS THE SUPREME COUP HAPPENING NOW?

The Left has been attacking the Supreme Court ever since it gained a majority of justices committed to upholding the Constitution. Liberal elites are angry that the justices have ruled against them on key issues, so they are attempting to stack the courts in their favor.

Court packing and court purging efforts are just the latest in a series of coordinated attempts by the Left to attack judicial legitimacy and the rule of law. These attacks have included:

1. Declaring that Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch had “released the whirlwind,” would “pay the price,” and wouldn’t “know what hit” if they went forward with “these awful decisions”
2. Conducting unlawful protests outside the justices’ home (including an attempt on the life of Justice Kavanaugh)
3. Seeking to reshape the judiciary by adding more than 200 justices to the lower courts and eliminating single-judge districts
4. Seeking to end the Senate filibuster to give a bare majority of Congress power to overhaul the membership, structure, and jurisdiction of the Supreme Court
5. Fabricating “ethics” scandals
6. Filing articles of impeachment against justices after unfavored rulings
7. Asking the DOJ to launch criminal investigations of justices
8. Calling on Americans to disregard federal court orders
9. Seeking to strip the U.S. Supreme Court of jurisdiction to hear cases on key issues

WHAT IS AT STAKE?

If the Supreme Coup succeeds, our constitutional republic could be lost. An independent judiciary is an essential check on the power of the executive and legislative branches. If the Supreme Coup is successful, the judiciary will no longer be a safeguard of our civil liberties but could instead become a political tool of the ruling party. A successful Supreme Coup will:

1. End the legitimacy of the U.S. Supreme Court
2. Destroy our Constitution’s founding principle of separation of powers
3. Eradicate our cherished rights and freedoms, including religious liberty
4. Politicize the high court
5. Erode all public confidence in future court rulings

HOW SOON COULD THE SUPREME COUP HAPPEN?

Some components of the Supreme Coup would require a constitutional amendment to take effect. But some are only a majority vote away from happening, if the filibuster ends. Currently, Senate filibuster rules require 60 Senators to vote “yes” for a bill to move forward. If a newly-elected Senate ends the filibuster, the Senate will be able to pass radical legislation – including bills to pack or purge the U.S. Supreme Court – with a simple majority vote.

WHAT’S WRONG WITH “COURT PACKING”?

Court packing is an attempt by one political party to install a majority of justices at the U.S. Supreme Court who will be favorable to their arguments. It’s really about the Left seeking to lock in a liberal majority to get the political results they want. Some problems with court packing are that:

1. It leads to tyranny. Hugo Chavez was elected president of Venezuela in 1999. It only took five years for him to pack his nation’s highest court with a dozen more judges to carry out his political agenda. Chavez’s court-packing destroyed judicial independence in Venezuela. Reports show that of the 45,000 rulings issued by Venezuela’s high court since 2004, the court never sided against Chavez’s government after it was packed. Not once.
2. It politicizes the Court. Packing the Supreme Court with nominees from one party will ensure that the party in question rules the nation for decades to come.
3. It is unnecessary. As Democrats said in 1937, adding justices to the court is a “needless, futile, and utterly dangerous abandonment of constitutional principle.”
4. It is a “bonehead” idea. At least that’s what then-Senator Joe Biden said in 1983.

WHAT’S WRONG WITH A BINDING ETHICS CODE?

A binding ethics code isn’t about accountability, transparency, or any other euphemism. It is about giving enemies of the judiciary the power to punish justices by subjecting them to investigations and fabricated scandals. Some problems with a binding ethics code are:

1. It is unconstitutional. Many ethics reform proposals give power to select Members of Congress to file ethics complaints – and recusal demands – against any justice, including justices who do not align with the Members’ ideology. But Congress has no authority over other branches of government. (Could the Senate form an “ethics” code and then try to enforce it over the President? Of course not. Impeachment is Congress’ only authority over another branch of government.) Such proposals violate the separation of powers and are unconstitutional.
2. It is unnecessary. The Court already has an ethics code, so a new code is not needed.
3. It is against the intent of the Founders. The founders recognized the separation of powers between each branch of government is essential to preserving our civil liberties.
4. It is unwanted. The American people are heavily against ethics codes. (See our recent poll).

WHAT IS WRONG WITH JUDICIAL TERM LIMITS?

The Left has proposed instituting 18-year term limits for Supreme Court justices and giving the president the power to select a new justice every two years. Some problems with such term limits proposals are:

1. They are unconstitutional. Term limits contravene the clear text of Article III of the U.S. Constitution, which says judges shall receive lifetime appointments. Removing a justice from the Supreme Court would violate the clear text of the U.S. Constitution.
2. They are against the intent of the Founders. Life tenure for Supreme Court justices has worked well for more than 230 years and is an essential component to ensure judicial independence. Alexander Hamilton’s argument in Federalist No. 78 from The Federalist Papers is the prime defense of judicial tenure at the time of America’s Founding.
3. They are court purging by another name. Imposing term limits would immediately remove the longest-serving and most conservative justices first – including Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito – forcing out the justices least-favored by the Left to make room for those favored by the party in power.
4. They will destroy the independence of the judiciary. Justices who know they will soon leave the Court will be incentivized to please key parties who can benefit the justices in the future. Do we really want Justices issuing opinions, knowing they will need a job soon and may be tempted to please future employers?

HOW DO AMERICANS FEEL ABOUT THE SUPREME COUP?

Polling from 2024 reveals that 87% of Americans believe an independent judiciary is a crucial safeguard of our civil liberties, and 57% believe that Congress forcing ethics reform on the Supreme Court threatens that independence.