Democrats threaten court reforms after Amy Coney Barrett confirmation

Prominent Democrats are vowing that Republicans will rue the day they confirmed Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

Democratic lawmakers both in and out of the Senate, which voted to confirm President Trump’s nominee to the nation’s highest bench on Monday, threatened a myriad of court reform proposals following the justice’s swearing-in.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a close Biden ally who sits in his former Senate seat and on the Judiciary Committee, warned during an appearance on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” Monday evening that, “we’ve got to look at our federal courts as a whole.”

Asked by Maddow how Democrats would be able to get retribution for Republicans achieving a conservative 6-3 court, the Delaware senator said, “[W]e’ve got to have a wide-open conversation about how do we rebalance our courts…Because we’ve seen hundreds of conservative judges put on circuit courts and district courts all over this country in the last four years, in many cases, too young, too unqualified, and too far right to be allowed to sit peaceably without our re-examining the process, the results, and the consequences.”

Coons’ remarks were the first from a Senate Democrat to discuss making changes to lower courts as well.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), a Senate Judiciary Committee member like Coons, went as far as introducing a resolution on the Senate floor expressing that “unlimited anonymous spending to influence our judiciary undermines the integrity of our judicial system and damages Americans’ confidence that all people receive equal justice under law.”

Speaking to The Hill Monday, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) addressed the recent “speculation” about the potential for Democrats to expand the Supreme Court and push court reform should they win back the White House and Senate in November.

“Will Democrats go to new, extraordinary lengths to maximize their power given the extraordinary lengths Republicans have gone to maximize their power? This is not a conversation that is ripe enough yet, but what do Republicans expect?” the Connecticut Democrat asked.

“Do we just unilaterally stand down and not choose to use the same tools that Republicans did in the majority?” he continued, adding, “I think there are now new rules in the Senate, and I think Republicans have set them.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) offered her own take on potentially expanding the court during an interview Monday with MSNBC’s “All In with Chris Hayes,” when the anchor asked her what types of court reform she would be open to in the future.

“It was a hundred — well, in 1879, in 1876, there were nine justices on the court. Our population has grown enormously since then. Should we expand the court? Let’s take a look and see … And that relates to the nine district courts, maybe we need more district courts, as well,” the California Democrat told the network.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) warned that his Republican colleagues would come to regret their decision to move forward on Barrett’s nomination in a speech on the Senate floor Monday.

“The Republican majority is lighting its credibility on fire,” the top Senate Democrat said, “The next time the American people give Democrats a majority in this chamber, you will have forfeited the right to tell us how to run that majority.”

“My colleagues may regret this for a lot longer than they think,” he added.

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the No. 2 Senate Democrat, concurred with Schumer, warning that Republicans would “regret the consequences of taking the Senate down this path.”

Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) issued a stark warning to her Republican colleagues, that Democrats would remember come November.

“Today Republicans denied the will of the American people by confirming a Supreme Court justice through an illegitimate process—all in their effort to gut the Affordable Care Act and strip health care from millions with pre-existing conditions,” she wrote in a tweet Monday.

“We won’t forget this.”

As the country mourned the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who passed away in late September, President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said they would move forward on a vote for her replacement.

The idea sparked fury in the Democratic party, leading numerous prominent figures to voice their support for court “packing,” or filling the nation’s highest bench with more than the original nine judges.

Trump and Republicans have defended replacing Ginsburg before the November election, arguing that unlike President Obama in 2016, the GOP held both the White House and Senate.

In a tweet Tuesday, Trump railed against Democrats for their threats of court reform, writing, “Biden’s Handler’s want to expand the Court. This would be very bad for the USA. On top of that they don’t want to provide a list of who would be chosen for the Court. MUST HAVE A LIST OF THESE RADICAL LEFT JUDGES!”

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