Prior to the 2016 election, Democrat candidates traditionally respected the independence of the judiciary. Now, however, with President Trump having nominated Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, liberal legislators are angry and seeking every avenue to undermine Trump in any way possible.
After their star-witnesses, including disgraced felon Michael Cohen and Watergate conspirator John Dean, couldn’t accomplish this goal, Democrats are turning to another terrible idea - a constitutional amendment to alter the composition of the Supreme Court.
As Mike Davis writes in the Des Moines Register, Democrats are hell-bent on implementing a court-packing plan to offset the impact of constitutional judges appointed by President Trump.
At this point in his presidency, Trump has nominated and confirmed 115 federal judges, including a record of 41 circuit court judges. George W. Bush comes in a close second with 23 confirmed circuit court nominees.
This swift action by the President and the Republican-led Senate highlights the politics at hand, as Davis writes,
"Judicial vacancies will surely remain a major issue for 2020 voters as they size up the past performance and future prospects of Trump and his Senate Republican allies. Packing the Supreme Court, once universally derided as a cynical power grab, is now not only up for debate, it is practically a litmus test for liberal presidential candidates."
With qualified conservative judges on the Supreme Court, Democrats are outraged at losing an opportunity to pack the courts with liberal activists who legislate from the bench.
As these judges exercise restraint and independence, Democrat candidates such as Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg, Beto O’Rourke, Kamala Harris, and Kirsten Gillibrand understand that packing the Court will be their only opportunity to have activist judges handing down policy decisions rather than judicial precedent.
Democrat candidates did not like the results of the 2016 election. They did not like the results of the Mueller report. And now, they don’t like one of the most basic structures of our Democracy: an independent, thoughtful, judiciary.
Democrats are attempting to create a political safety net for themselves.
If they can't win at the ballot box, they can try to legislate through liberal activist judges in the courts. That, however, is not how our founders intended it. Perhaps it's time for liberals to retake Civics 101 - the American people are protected when there is a balance of power between the three branches of government and that's the way it should remain.