Following the results of the off-year election, the far Left and politicians were quick to bring court-packing and radical “court reform” to the forefront of the national conversation.
Many are interpreting the election outcomes as a sign of a forthcoming shift in political power in the 2028 General Election. And if things do end up going their way at the ballot box, partisans and judicial activists will waste no time in “reforming” or completely restructuring the Supreme Court, which they see as the biggest obstacle to their radical agenda.
“Elections can have the same effect for some to become drunk on even the prospect of power,” writes attorney and legal scholar Jonathan Turley in an op-ed for The Hill. “That was the case this week as Democratic luminaries discussed plans to retake power and then fundamentally change the constitutional system.”
“That means weakening the greatest single check on power: the Supreme Court,” Turley continued. “The talk of court-packing had died down after Democrats lost both houses of Congress and the White House. Now, after the elections last week, such talk is back with a vengeance.”
In a recent podcast, Democratic political strategist James Carville predicted that “a Democrat is going to be elected in 2028” and will “announce a special transition advisory committee on the reform of the Supreme Court.”
“They’re going to recommend that the number of Supreme Court justices go from nine to 13,” Carville said. “They’re going to do some blue ribbon panel of distinguished jurists, and they are going to recommend 13, and a Democratic Senate and House is going to pass it, and the Democratic president is going to sign it, because they have to do an intervention so we can have a Supreme Court that the American people trust again.”
Obama’s U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, says Democrats must make “court reform” a part of their party platform, which includes ending life tenure for Supreme Court justices and expanding the Court.
“People shouldn’t be on the Supreme Court for 30, 40 years, and become disconnected from the country that they’re supposed to serve,” Holder said on a podcast last month. “Eighteen years is enough for anybody to serve on the Supreme Court…And so I think at a minimum, that should be a part of any Democratic Party platform.”
On Election Day, Holder doubled down on that narrative.
“If there is a Democratic trifecta in 2028—and I think the possibility of that is pretty good—Supreme Court reform is something that has to be considered,” Holder said in a media interview.
“The Supreme Court is a broken institution, and it has to be a part of the national conversation in 2026 and 2028,” he continued. “We cannot leave in place this Supreme Court without a discussion of substantive reforms being put in place.”
Radical “court reform” is not likely to happen soon. The prospect that court-packing or other “reform” legislation passes is slim-to-none. However, that doesn’t mean that those on the Far Left have stopped pushing for it.
Just because the Supreme Court Coup has simmered down, it doesn’t mean we can let our guard down.
First Liberty is actively working to counter any future attempts at radical “court reform.” Fighting for religious freedom is meaningless if the judiciary is politicized and turned into an extension of whoever holds power. We will do everything we can to protect judicial independence and the integrity of the courts.
