Sen. Maize Hirono (D-HI) said all options are on the table, and that includes expanding the Supreme Court if Democrats win the White House and the Senate.
Sen. Hirono was asked about expanding the court on CNN and she answered:
So we can change that number. As I say, all of those matters will be on the table when the Democrats take back the Senate. None of those matters will be on the table if we do not take back the senate. So that is why, even as we are fighting tooth and nail to prevent Mitch Mcconnell from getting his way. His entire goal has been to pack the courts with lifetime appointments for young, usually white male judges and justices for life. That has been his goal with the most ideologically conservative judges that he can find.
And they are going to be making decisions on the Affordable Care Act, on Roe v. Wade, on LGBTQ rights, on the rights of public and private sector unions to organize and stay organized. You name it. Voting rights. There’s voter suppression going on all across the country. Those will come before the courts. Efforts by this administration to try and not count people who are undocumented. That’s before the courts right now. And this is why who gets put on these courts is really important. This is why Mitch Mcconnell is so focused on making sure that the most ideologically conservative with their ideological agendas get their lifetime appointments. And we have to stop them.
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Sen. Maize Hirono (D-HI) said that all options are on the table including expanding the Supreme Court to negate Trump's justices if Democrats win the White House and a Senate majority. pic.twitter.com/rf54IUIswA
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) September 19, 2020
Sen. Hirono’s comments are an example of what has changed in the Democratic Party during the Trump years. Democrats understand that it isn’t enough to gain power. They have to be willing to use it to represent the will of the people.
The idea of getting rid of the Senate filibuster and expanding the court is popping up more and more often in the hours since Justice Ginsburg passed away.
If Mitch McConnell wants to avoid losing the White House, the Supreme Court, and the Senate all in one swoop, he’d better heed the warning of Democrats and back off trying to ram Trump’s Supreme Court nominee through the Senate.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
