A recent column for Bloomberg Law by two professors for advocating for the expansion of the U.S. Supreme Court is attempting to redefine court-packing yet again. The professors suggest that the Court should be expanded to 15 justices, but that this wouldn't technically qualify as court-packing because, under their scheme, most cases would only be heard by a panel of 5 justices:

Real reform is required, and for that we need a court of 15 justices, with the justices sitting in three panels of five judges on any normal case. On very important cases, the court could vote to sit all 15 justices together en banc.

Republicans are sounding the alarm on President Joe Biden's pick to lead the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), David Chipman. Fox News reports:

Dozens of House Republicans are urging the Senate to oppose President Biden's nomination of David Chipman as director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), calling him an "enemy of the 2nd Amendment" and saying his confirmation would "jeopardize" the constitutional rights of gun owners. . .

Fox News obtained a letter House Republican Study Committee Chair Jim Banks, R-Ind., and 68 other House GOP members penned to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. R-Ky., on Monday.

One of the most important constitutional issues that has been raised since Joe Biden took office is the state of the Second Amendment in the United States. On April 8th, he announced his gun control agenda to be implemented through executive orders:

Biden is asking the Justice Department (DOJ) to propose within a month a rule to stop "ghost guns," which are "kits" people can buy legally to assemble a functioning firearm that does not have a serial number. 

Earlier today, the White House announced that it will be forming the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States. The move fulfills a promise that then-presidential candidate Joe Biden made last October during an interview with "60 Minutes" in the wake of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death. The press release announcing the Commission explains:

President Biden will today issue an executive order forming the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, comprised of a bipartisan group of experts on the Court and the Court reform debate. In addition to legal and other scholars, the Commissioners includes former federal judges and practitioners who have appeared before the Court, as well as advocates for the reform of democratic institutions and of the administration of justice. The expertise represented on the Commission includes constitutional law, history and political science.

Major League Baseball's decision to move the 2021 All-Star Game from Georgia to Colorado in response to Georgia's new election law has caused many to scratch their heads considering the reality of election laws in other states with close connections to the League. As an editorial from the Washington Examiner points out, the move was a "cheap and easy way of getting credit for being socially responsible."

Joe Biden's first slate of judicial nominees have three things in common. First, they should be confirmable. As the Cato Institute's Ilya Shapiro points out:

Biden's first group of nominees was designed to go down easy; they're all headed for courts in D.C. or states with two Democratic senators, so there's no concern about blue slips or other political blips. That's largely going to continue, since most judicial vacancies are in blue states where senators didn't want to play ball with the Trump White House or then-majority leader Mitch McConnell. Or where judges waited until Biden was elected to announce their retirements.

Last week, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed a sweeping election reform bill into law that strengthens the state's election system. Unsurprisingly, the law was immediately met with criticism from those on the left including President Joe Biden and woke corporate interests who easily caved to pressure. During his first press conference since becoming president (yes, his first), Joe Biden made the ludicrous assertion that Georgia and other states hoping to enact election reforms make "Jim Crow look like Jim Eagle.”  

Earlier today, the White House released its first slate of federal judicial nominees since Joe Biden took office in January. As the Judicial Crisis Network's Carrie Severino told Fox News, this means it's "payback" time for liberal dark money groups.

President Biden has announced his first tranche of judicial nominees and as I explained on @FoxFriendsFirst this morning, it's payback time.

That is, payback time for the left-wing dark money groups that spent millions to elect him and Senate Democrats. pic.twitter.com/u8iy23Qw27

— Carrie Severino (@JCNSeverino) March 30, 2021

The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to advance Vanita Gupta's nomination as associate attorney general to the full Senate next week. Hopefully some Senate Judiciary Democrats will reconsider their support.  As Senator John Cornyn points out, Gupta could be the Biden Administration's "most dangerous" nominee to the Department of Justice:

"I still am very concerned about Ms. Gupta's nomination," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said, citing her responses to the committee's questions. "She has avoided answering questions, or as in the case of her testimony here in front of the committee, she's completely, 180 degrees -- taken a 180-degrees position different from what she has on a previous occasion as recently as last summer when we had her before the committee [to] testify on police reform."

It's no secret that the Biden Administration and Democrat members of Congress are trying to radically change the Federal Election Commission and campaign finance law through the so-called "For the People Act" (see prior blogs here, here, and here), but the Biden Administration is making plans to change the dynamic of the FEC in the likely event that the legislation doesn't pass the Senate. In a memo obtained by Axios, the Biden Administration lays out its plan to sidestep Republican input on nominees to the body and make the FEC more "pro-enforcement."