WASHINGTON — A progressive activist group will launch a new TV ad Sunday demanding President Joe Biden expand the Supreme Court, a sign that the Democratic Party’s left flank plans to continue applying pressure on the issue even amid the frenzy of a new administration taking power.
The ad, from the liberal group Demand Justice, urges Democrats to increase the number of seats on the nation’s highest court after the party won control of the White House and U.S. Senate in the 2020 elections, arguing that voters want them to “restore basic balance” to an institution that added three conservative justices during former President Donald Trump’s tenure.
Interest from liberals in expanding the Supreme Court peaked last year, when Trump and a GOP-controlled Senate confirmed Amy Coney Barrett as a new justice after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and over the vociferous objections of Democratic lawmakers just weeks before the election. Biden, under heavy pressure from the left, eventually agreed during his presidential campaign to form a commission to study the proposal.
Brian Fallon, Demand Justice’s executive director, said Democrats have been understandably preoccupied with other issues in recent weeks. But he said the party needs to remember the outrage it felt after Ginsburg’s death.
“The last couple of weeks have been really inspiring for Democrats in terms of the dual wins in Georgia and Biden being sworn in,” Fallon said. “And it’s really important that we not forget what took place immediately prior to the elections, which is that Republicans jammed through a lifetime appointment through the Supreme Court closer to a general election than has ever happened in history.”
The ad, backed by a six-figure buy, will run in the Washington, D.C., media market, officials with the group said. Fallon called it “the first of an ongoing campaign” to “refocus people’s attention” on the judiciary.
The proposal to expand the number of seats on the Supreme Court is controversial, with Republicans and even some Democrats voicing strong opposition to the idea. The Supreme Court, which has nine members, last added a seat more than 150 years ago.
Judicial activism, however, gained newfound attention on the left in recent years, starting after Republicans blocked former President Barack Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Merrick Garland, from joining the court in 2016.
Adding seats, sometimes referred to as “packing the court,” has also gained traction with some Democratic lawmakers: Sen. Alex Padilla of California, for instance, has said he’s supportive of doing so.
Biden pledged near the end of the general election that he would form a commission to study proposals to add seats to the Supreme Court, though he has not yet named who would be on the commission or what it’s structure looked like. He also said at the time the commission would be bipartisan.
Fallon said he’s been in touch with members of the administration and expects an announcement about the commission could come in the next few weeks. But he said he does not yet know who will serve on it.
“We’re just watching carefully on exactly how it’s structured and who’s on it, because I think that will tell you right away how seriously to take it,” Fallon said.
