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submitted 7 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

President Joe Biden promised Black voters Wednesday that he would appoint progressives to the US Supreme Court if elected to a second term, suggesting he expects vacancies on the high court over the next four years.

“The next president, they’re going to be able to appoint a couple justices, and I’ll be damned — if in fact we’re able to change some of the justices when they retire and put in really progressive judges like we’ve always had, tell me that won’t change your life,” he said during a campaign rally in Philadelphia.

It was as explicit a warning as Biden could offer about the stakes of the upcoming election, and a clear reminder that some of the nine justices have entered their seventies.

Clarence Thomas is 75 and Samuel Alito is 74; both are conservative and appointed by Republican presidents. Sonia Sotomayor, a liberal who was nominated by President Barack Obama, turns 70 next month.

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[-] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 213 points 7 months ago

Biden's going to need everyone's help. Turn the Senate and the House super Blue. Even if you hate Biden because of Israeli support, vote for your Rep and Senator that can deal with this corruption. Add to the bench until the traitors Thomas and Alito become irrelevant. Revise the number of Senate and House seats.

[-] psycho_driver@lemmy.world 172 points 7 months ago

Even if you hate Biden because of Israeli support,

Trump said that "he (Trump) fully support's Israel's Gaza genocide."

Anything Biden can do, Trump can (and would) do worse.

[-] hddsx@lemmy.ca 48 points 7 months ago

Anything you can do, I can do better. I can do anything better than you.

Biden: I can support Israel’s killing of people in Gaza Trump: I will deport anyone that supports Palestine

[-] BarbecueCowboy@lemmy.world 29 points 7 months ago

Having been around awhile, it's so weird that people are trying to make the case that a republican presidency could be a good thing for... just about any country in the middle east. Not saying that any party is going to spend much time on it, but it's just a weird stretch.

[-] Paddzr@lemmy.world 28 points 7 months ago

Because people are that fucking gullible.

It's irrelevant what's happened or is happening unless it comes from timtok/Facebook/lemmy/reddit post.

Not voting for Biden is exactly what they want to achieve and people who haven't read past titles are their target.

[-] WanderingVentra@lemm.ee 20 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Nobody thinks Trump will be good for the Middle East. They are just trying to pressure Biden to actually change his policy. The idea is he'll change course if he sees it's not popular and could threaten his election. I say publically it'll make a difference because I don't want Biden to support a genocide and it's the only tool I have, but I doubt it will. I'm sure they're all like me and live in a blue state, which means we're useless for the electoral college. He needs to try to get purple states.

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[-] makyo@lemmy.world 16 points 7 months ago

The craziest thing to me are those further leftists threatening to abandon Biden and let Trump walk in.

I mean, they can complain and oppose the democrats all they want but they should also never ever forget that today’s GOP is just the latest incarnation of the leftist’s longtime fascist enemy. Keeping them from power is and always has been a top priority.

[-] HawlSera@lemm.ee 11 points 7 months ago

Right? it's like saying "I wanted chicken, not beef, but all we have is chicken.... So I'm just gonna eat the pellets in the Rat Poison bottle instead!"

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[-] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 12 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I hate that this sounds so dumb but we now live in a world where the truth sounds stupid

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[-] PseudorandomNoise@lemmy.world 71 points 7 months ago

Even if you hate Biden because of Israeli support

i.e. don't be a single-issue voter.

[-] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 11 points 7 months ago

I'm a single issue voter and my single issue is proportional representation - I'll be voting for Biden but if a major party candidate did genuinely advocate for voting reform they'd probably have me.

[-] Hugin@lemmy.world 30 points 7 months ago

I hate most of the Democratic party. I fear the Republican party. So yeah I'll be holding my nose and voting D.

[-] tacosplease@lemmy.world 19 points 7 months ago

That would be a decent protest. Have all the frustrated D voters wear a clothespin on their nose when they go to vote for the lesser evil.

Could actually get more people off the couch. Frustrated progressive voters would want to increase the ratio of "nose plug voters" to more effectively send their message to Biden while also helping kick out the Republicans.

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[-] sgtgig@lemmy.world 24 points 7 months ago

I just want the GOP to get absolutely pummeled for once so we can move the overton window back in the right direction. No I don't like the dems. Yes I will vote for them every time as they represent the closest to what I want.

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[-] venusaur@lemmy.world 22 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Hijacking this comment thread to promote Ranked Choice Voting.

[-] MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world 13 points 7 months ago

And theres only one party that has outlawed RCV in certain areas. We aren't getting RCV without 2 things:

-Primary moderates and elect progressive Democrats at every level we can -A Democratic supermajority in Congress

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[-] hark@lemmy.world 84 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Actually progressive or "biden is the most progressive president in recent US history" progressive? I'll take either over the alternative, but I'd love it if it was more than former than the latter.

[-] FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 38 points 7 months ago

If he promises to let Bernie Sanders pick them then I bet he'd gain whole percentage points in polls.

[-] werefreeatlast@lemmy.world 33 points 7 months ago

Can Bernie be president on Wednesdays and Thursdays?

[-] JudahBenHur@lemm.ee 13 points 7 months ago

he has pickle ball on Thursdays

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[-] samus12345@lemmy.world 68 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

"Just as soon as the court decides that the President is immune from prosecution, I expect there will be six vacancies soon after." wink

[-] FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 16 points 7 months ago

TBH, I think that's an excellent threat to get them off their asses on the Trump decision pending. Even if he doesn't mean to kill them, it would be a no-brainer for congress to impeach them given the lack of republican party cohesion over Trump candidacy.

[-] restingboredface@sh.itjust.works 64 points 7 months ago

He should pull an FDR and try to get the court expanded to 12.

[-] cogman@lemmy.world 83 points 7 months ago

11 or 13. You don't do even numbers on the SC so there aren't voting ties.

[-] ImADifferentBird@lemmy.blahaj.zone 77 points 7 months ago

13 makes the most sense. There are 13 circuits, why not 13 Supreme Court justices?

[-] Milk_Sheikh@lemm.ee 14 points 7 months ago

…and the district judges themselves elect/appoint their representatives to SCotUS. Get political appointees out of the top bench, I’ll take an unelected meritocracy over cronyism and patronage any day.

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[-] restingboredface@sh.itjust.works 13 points 7 months ago

Yeah agreed. I never quite understood FDRs thinking on putting an even number of people in the court. We have so many 5-4 decisions now an even court would be chaos.

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[-] dhork@lemmy.world 36 points 7 months ago

13 is a better number, it matches the number of Federal Appelate Courts.

If Democrats manage to take both houses of Congress and the Presidency, I would advocate for immediately passing a law to increase the size of the SC to 13, effective for the start of the SC's 2026 term.

Then, Democrats and Republicans should go to work to enact a Constitutional Amendment for term limits on the SC. Republicans would finally have incentive to do it quickly, or else Biden would name 4 young Liberals to the SC who will be there 40+ years without term limits.

[-] ares35@kbin.social 13 points 7 months ago

also 13 original colonies.. 13 stripes on the flag.

some magahead: so that means 1.2..3..4.....7 republicans........ and 1..2....6 confederates?

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[-] cm0002@lemmy.world 12 points 7 months ago

I think a better solution should tie SC seats to the number of federal district courts. That way, should the number grow in the future, SC seats will be added automatically

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[-] BertramDitore@lemmy.world 15 points 7 months ago

I wish he would. The only thing stopping him, ironically, is his fear of appearing partisan (and angering “moderate” republicans, if they even exist anymore), despite the fact that that’s exactly what this would be attempting to remedy.

I’d love to be wrong, but he’ll never do it. He’s barely even willing to talk about the supreme court’s corruption and blatant bias. I think he’s allergic to that much institutional change.

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[-] paddirn@lemmy.world 62 points 7 months ago

Well, since it is legal for a President to order assassinations… why not open SCOTUS up to some new blood?

[-] PseudorandomNoise@lemmy.world 41 points 7 months ago

It's very likely the GOP will win control of the Senate, and if they do McConnell would sooner die than let Biden even consider nominating someone.

Still gonna vote for Biden though, because if Trump wins the Conservative justices will all retire at once and they'll nominate 30-year-olds to fill in. I don't want 60+ more years of a Conservative court majority!

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[-] neidu2@feddit.nl 24 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

"Expecting vacancies" could be interpreted as an axe-related threat against some of the more conservative judges. I'm not 100% opposed to the idea.

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[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world 18 points 7 months ago

While it's POSSIBLE there will be vacancies in the next presidential term, the two oldest, Thomas and Alito, will still be younger in 2028 than Biden is now.

So I wouldn't exactly hold my breath on Biden getting the picks.

Whoever serves from '28 to '32 will likely get to replace both Thomas and Alito, then the next two oldest are Roberts and Sotomayor.

[-] tacosplease@lemmy.world 28 points 7 months ago

According to Trump's lawyers, Biden could use Seal Team Six to ... create some vacancies.

Clearly never going to happen, but it's too silly of an actual legal argument to ignore.

[-] psvrh@lemmy.ca 16 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

This had better not be a “well, we waited to fill these until the election year so that we can use it to mobilize the base”.

One, because it’s terribly cynical and self serving.

Two, because it doesn’t work on progressives nearly as well as they think. It runs the risk of alienating voters because they don’t feel respected for 3.5 years out of 4.

[-] mynachmadarch@kbin.social 20 points 7 months ago

I don't think it is (though Dems seem to pull that often). Supreme Court Justices seem to have a very hard time letting go of the power, even on the more progressive side (Notorious R.B.G. being the most recent example). There's basically no way to remove a supreme court justice, impeachment will pretty much never happen. I think it's more recognizing that multiple who are 75 years old in a stressful job and being targeted by the public more and more is likely to lead to at least one of them leaving, be it death or retirement.

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this post was submitted on 30 May 2024
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