Marsha Blackburn: Democrats Seek to Expand Supreme Court So It Will ‘Rubber-Stamp Everything They Believe’

Democrats seek to turn the Supreme Court into a “super legislative body” so they can have people who “rubber-stamp everything they believe,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said during a press conference Thursday.

Flanked by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Blackburn spoke out against the left’s recent proposal to expand the Supreme Court from 9 justices to 13.

“Can you even imagine what Joy Reid and her MSNBC friends would be saying if Republicans tried to pack the Court? They would just lose it, and it would be nonstop coverage,” she said in a reference to Cruz previously noting that Republicans did not attempt a similar power grab in 2017 despite controlling Washington, DC.

“The Democrats are trying to pack the Court, to turn it into a super legislative body so they have people that are going to rubber-stamp everything they believe. Everything,” she said, citing the Green New Deal, H.R. 1, and the Equality Act as primary examples.

“And if they are successful, you will not see life protected. You will see government-run health care. I guarantee you, they will come to take away your guns. These are things you can count on because this is their agenda,” she warned.

“Their policies are so unpopular, they know they could not get it through the House and the Senate. Why are they keeping the Capitol in lockdown? Why are they keeping people away, not giving them the opportunity to petition their government?” she asked.

“They are doing it because they want to radically change this country and radically change our institutions,” Blackburn said, vowing to stand against their push to pack the Court and fight to preserve liberties.

“All these institutions are important to the American people, and they want to see us stand for the Constitution, for freedom, for liberty, for the institutions that have kept this nation free,” Blackburn added.

Democrats last week unveiled the Judiciary Act of 2021 to expand the Supreme Court from 9 justices to 13. During a press conference unveiling the proposal, Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) lamented what he described as a “stilted, illegitimate 6-3 conservative majority on the Court,” despite the fact that many conservatives question if they hold a firm majority on the Court at all.

“The Republicans stole two seats on the Supreme Court, and now it is up to us to repair that damage. Our democracy is in jeopardy today because the Supreme Court’s standing is sorely damaged. And the way we repair it is straightforward,” Markey said.

“These four new seats, to be filled by President Biden, will reconstitute the United States Supreme Court. The bench will then rightfully reflect the values of the majority of the American people on whose behalf they serve,” he added, calling to end the filibuster in order to make an expanded Supreme Court a reality.

While Congress has authority to change the number of Supreme Court seats, the number has been nine since 1869, meaning it has been at that number for most of the nation’s history. Critics argue that changing the number for the admitted reason of getting the Supreme Court to side with a liberal agenda would effectively abolish judicial review: part of the Constitution’s system of checks and balances, which strikes down actions by the president, Congress, or the states when they violate the Constitution.