U.S. House Democrats Launch ‘Court Reform Now’ Task Force

Written by Mia Gradick 

As Election Day approaches, the far Left, politicians and some of the most radical groups in America continue their attacks on the U.S. Supreme Court and our judicial system.

U.S. House Democrats recently announced a new “Court Reform Now” task force that will work to advance legislation that would supposedly fix “political activism” at the U.S. Supreme Court.

The representatives say the U.S. Supreme Court has usurped “legislative and executive authority with activist decisions that disregard established precedent in order to achieve political results.”

When you look past all of the “reform” euphemisms, it’s clear that this task force is simply pushing some of the same extreme proposals they have previously promoted that would destroy the rule of law. Those include: court-packing, “ethics” codes on the justices and imposing term limits on justices—all of which our legal experts have explained would be a disaster for our country.

Make no mistake. The task force is not about “reforming” the Court. This is the political left trying to get around decisions it doesn’t like. When a ruling doesn’t go their way, they change the rules to grab more power and undermine the Court’s authority.

Leading the charge is Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia, the same lawmaker who previously introduced legislation to pack the Court by increasing it to 13 justices.

And of course, they’re not just attacking the U.S. Supreme Court as an institution. They’re keeping up their steady stream of attacks on individual justices and trying to make Americans hallucinate misconduct.

In its latest attack, the far Left is demanding that Justice Samuel Alito recuse himself from any case involving the 2020 election or the events on January 6th. Why? Because his wife raised an inverted American flag on the flagpole at their home for a day.

The New York Times described the flag as a “Stop the Steal” symbol. But Justice Alito explained in a statement that he personally had no involvement in flying the flag and that it “was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personal insulting language on yard signs.”

A few days after, the Times published another piece “to indict the conservative judge as a partisan ideologue,” all because an “Appeal to Heaven” flag flew outside his beach home last year.

So, what are the true origins of the flag? Tristian Justice, a writer at The Federalist, shares that it was “designed by George Washington’s personal secretary” and is the “official flag of the Massachusetts Navy.” As for the text? It was “inspired by British philosopher John Locke, whose ideas became the foundation for American independence.” So, the flag simply celebrates our American heritage. That’s all. Justice Alito’s wife–and the Justice himself–are allowed to be proud of their country.

It’s important to put his wife first because Justice Alito has said he had no involvement with raising either flag.

U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, among others, took the attacks even further. Last week, following the flag “controversies,” he threatened not only Alito but the U.S. Supreme Court as an institution. Raskin stated that “if Justice Alito doesn’t heed the calls to recuse himself from the case,” there should be another federal ethics panel comprised of circuit judges. This is in addition to the House task force. And what would this do? Undermine the U.S. Supreme Court and delegitimize it.

Earlier this week, Justice Alito sent a letter to U.S. Senate leaders in which he soundly rejected their demand that he recuse himself from Trump v. United States and from any other cases related to the 2020 presidential election.

Thomas Jipping at the Heritage Foundation explains that targeting Justice Alito is just another assault on justices “with lies, smears, and fictional ethics controversies.”

Jipping also pointed out the radical Left’s double standard when it comes to conservative versus liberal justices:

“They uttered not a peep when the now-deceased Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s 2018 trip to Israel—including transportation, food, lodging, and everything else—was paid for by billionaire Morris Kahn, who did have business before the court.”

Additionally, Jipping says they “looked the other way at liberal Justice Stephen Breyer’s 2018 all-expenses-paid trip to Ireland and Spain, thanks to the largesse of the billionaire Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.”

In other words, the far Left claims that the U.S. Supreme Court is being political when, in truth, they are the ones making a caricature of the highest Court and making it political with their constant attacks.

The Far Left Continues Spending Big Money to Attack the Judiciary

It’s not just the U.S. Supreme Court. The radical Left also wants to go after state courts and turn them into a rubber-stamp for its political agenda. And they’re pouring in millions of dollars to make it happen.

Two organizations—the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, the Left’s mechanism to fight state and congressional maps, and Planned Parenthood Vote, the lobbying group of Planned Parenthood—will target state supreme court races in Arizona, Michigan, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas. They’re launching a $5 million ad campaign for canvassing and get-out-the-vote operations.

“As a result of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and Rucho v. Common Cause decisions, state supreme courts have become central to the struggle to protect democracy,” they claimed in a press statement.

With that, the groups basically said the quiet part out loud. They dislike the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings and also the lower courts that have properly followed the direction of the nation’s highest court. So, they’re going to go after state courts, because rulings didn’t go their way.

And, as you may recall, a coalition of progressive groups said they’ll spend $10 million to convince Americans that the U.S. Senate needs to “reform” the U.S. Supreme Court and end the filibuster. If the filibuster is “reformed,” destructive measures would likely pass very quickly—including court packing which would destroy judicial independence in America.

The 2024 Election could have a major impact on the rule of law. If things go their way at the ballot box, the Left and many politicians are ready to bring back all sorts of radical proposals to “restructure” the nation’s highest court. The very future of the U.S. Supreme Court is at stake.

First Liberty and many other constitutional and legal experts explain that these reforms have nothing to do with improving our judicial system. They’re all about raw power.

If the politically motivated U.S. Supreme Court Coup succeeds, the judiciary will become little more than a tool of whomever holds power. Judges will lose their ability to enforce the rule of law with impartiality, and the last safeguard to our civil liberties—including religious freedom—will be gone.

Read More:

Pseudo-Journalism and the Left’s Newest Attack on the Supreme Court (National Review)

Democrats Promise Coordinated Assault On SCOTUS If They Don’t Get Their Way (The Federalist)

Radical Left Spending $10 Million to End Filibuster & Rebuild Supreme Court (First Liberty)

A Democratic agenda: Lose the filibuster, reform the court and revive Roe. (Washington Post)

SCOTUS expansion, term limits on the menu for new House task force (Courthouse News Service)

Mia Gradick is a contract writer for First Liberty Institute. Her experiences range from working in the U.S. Senate, First Liberty, and the Heritage Foundation’s Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies. Mia is a graduate of Baylor University and a current law student at Regent University School of Law.