I’ve noted many times the central role of Supreme Court reform to any civic democratic future. If you’re a regular reader, you know my arguments. So I won’t recapitulate them here. I’ve also noted how very few Democratic officials seem at all ready for this and a huge amount of work is required to get them here. Luckily there’s time: The first chance to do anything like this is 2029. But there’s another, even more critical, underlying need. A lot of the Democratic public still sees the idea as disconcerting or extreme. And we shouldn’t run away from this perception. Because it is extreme. It is a remedy only justified and really necessitated by a basically unprecedented development in American history which is robbing the public of its right to self-government. (The question is whether there is any precedent is complicated. There are arguably two similar instances in American history. But we can return to that later.) The point is that there is a lot of work to do. Inherently resistant Democratic politicians certainly aren’t going to be brought along if a substantial number of their own voters, perhaps a majority of them, are spooked by the idea.
So this requires a substantial campaign of public education — activist/political groups dedicated specifically and focusedly to the issue, ones that are political activist in nature, ones that draw from the elite legal world. An entire language of explanation is required.
Obviously people have all sorts of ideas and it’s the ultimate hand wave to say … well, now all we need is a public education campaign to convince the public what I want is a good idea. That’s all! Simple. Just this one neat trick. But while this captures some of the challenge, there are concrete and non-aspirational reasons to believe this is different. I don’t think Democrats need any convincing that something has gone catastrophically wrong in the country. I think that perception actually goes way beyond partisan Democrats. Many people seem to now get — with the totality of the last decade and 2025 — that only extreme actions have any hope of putting the genie back in the bottle or even getting the genie bottle adjacent. The example of the Biden presidency actually adds to the weight. People get that just electing a Democratic president in itself isn’t enough. I think there are various aspects of the Biden presidency that will look better with the passage of time. But from the vantage point of 2025, it certainly has the look of a course of antibiotics you started and then stopped after just a day or two, which led to the infection coming back in a more virulent form. (I actually read about some recent studies that throws into question that old “finish the course” mantra. But again, let’s not get distracted!)
The point here is that I think the public realizes something has gone terribly wrong and that very strong medicine will be required to fix it. But unless you’re paying very close attention to the details, it’s just not clear that this is one of two or three sine qua non things that are required. The predicates are already there, so this isn’t like saying, Well we just need a public education campaign for my new idea of citizenship and unlimited bacon treats for dogs. As I’ve explained before, even I find the idea of SCOTUS reform extreme and disconcerting. But I spend my days watching the direction of politics and political power, looking at the building blocks and details very closely. When you do that, you pretty quickly realize that you can have democratic self-government (and the possibility of Democrats ever actually being in power), or you can have this Supreme Court. But not both. I genuinely believe that when the matter is examined closely, the case is that tight.
I’ve made my point. This requires an all-out effort not only to bring along Democratic lawmakers but the Democratic voters they ultimately respond to — political activists, legal elites, inside players, outside players — to be ready to act when the moment comes. There’s time. But not much.