Time to pack the court
There is no Constitutional requirement that SCOTUS be composed of nine justices. It isn’t even necessary that there be an odd number, though an odd number is certainly better than an even one because votes from odd numbers, where there are no (theoretical) abstentions or recusals, will never end in a tie. So there could just as easily be eleven or thirteen justices.
So, to be brutally Machiavellian about it, it’s time to pack SCOTUS with unabashedly partisan Democrats who will vote our way. They need to be young and healthy enough so they will outlive, or at least have the same potential lifespans, as the Trojan horse weasels of Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett. They need to be absolutely, rabidly and uncompromisingly pro-choice liberals who will fight tooth and nail for progressive agendas. And we need to start today.
First we need not just to win the midterms but to score a coup, and yes, I’m referring to a legal coup, but one that’s every inch as viciously ambitious as the illegal attempted one that took place on January 6, 2021. Only this coup needs to be a million times more effective.
In order to achieve that we need the twin knockout punches of the deeply unpopular latest Republican attempt to rape Roe v. Wade, together with some stunning and devastating revelations about the depth of evil of the Republican Party, exposed by next month’s televised January 6 committee hearings. We need to use that for heavily financed anti-Republican commercials running night and day in the run up to the November midterm election.
Then we need to make the lives of Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin unbearably inconvenient with public outcries for their ouster from the Senate and daily protests outside their private homes. We need to turn them into public pariahs with daily protests. They should be driven from their favourite restaurants by angry patrons. They should be refused service everywhere they go until they start seeing things our way.
Then we should get to work to change the laws to make voting by working people and minorities as convenient as possible. It should become the law of the land that no state should have the right to interfere with anyone’s right to vote. We may not get it done in time for November but we need to start thinking about future elections.
Next, every Democrat needs to make sure they talk five fence-sitters they know personally into voting in November. You’ve got six months so start today. Drag them along with you screaming and kicking on the day but get it done. For my part I am going to be making damn sure every American Democrat I know living in Britain votes for their Democratic representatives back home.
As for the Republicans you may know personally, make a point to remind them of what Donald Trump keeps saying. There’s no point in voting because the vote is rigged anyway. It’s their narrative, time to use it against them.
In short, sisters and brothers, we need to start thinking and acting like Republicans, at least as far as an effective fighting strategy is concerned. We need to outdo them. Once we have our victories we can pack the Court, enshrine Roe in the Constitution, do away with gerrymandering, protect the planet with tough green agendas and legislation, protect working people and their families, make universal healthcare the law of the land and finally, finally make America join the fellowship of civilised nations around the world. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.