WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.200 --> 00:00:05.320 Is court packing every bit as bad as January sixth. 2 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:12.279 Let's really examine this. I was sort of reading a 3 00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:15.439 discussion or listening to a discussion about this from some 4 00:00:15.480 --> 00:00:19.280 writers from National Review, and I want to lay out 5 00:00:19.480 --> 00:00:24.839 the case here that the court packing schemes I've talked 6 00:00:24.839 --> 00:00:28.480 about a little bit on the show, but President Biden 7 00:00:28.800 --> 00:00:31.640 rolled out and Harris is endorsing. 8 00:00:33.079 --> 00:00:34.719 This proposal. 9 00:00:36.159 --> 00:00:43.320 To change the structure of the Supreme Court, basically to 10 00:00:43.439 --> 00:00:48.159 impose eighteen year term limits on all Supreme Court justices 11 00:00:48.439 --> 00:00:54.320 and to stagger things so that basically every two years 12 00:00:54.320 --> 00:01:01.640 a Supreme Court justice will retire. After that that justice 13 00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:04.159 will be able to go down and be a. 14 00:01:04.120 --> 00:01:06.599 Circuit Court judge. 15 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:09.719 But basically every two years a president will have the 16 00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:15.640 opportunity to appoint new people, a new person to the 17 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:23.120 Supreme Court. So nine justices each serving eighteen year terms. 18 00:01:23.480 --> 00:01:26.560 Every two years one of the justices will be leaving, 19 00:01:26.920 --> 00:01:30.280 and so every president will get to nominate two Supreme 20 00:01:30.280 --> 00:01:33.079 Court justices. But the main thing is the eighteen year 21 00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:36.519 term limit, which it would seem the idea of this 22 00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:41.799 is that it would apply retroactively, meaning guess who's off 23 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:49.760 the court? Means that John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, and Sam 24 00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:53.239 Alito probably all get it kicked off the court right away. 25 00:01:54.120 --> 00:01:54.359 Hah. 26 00:01:54.680 --> 00:01:58.120 How convenient that the three most senior justices are all 27 00:01:58.200 --> 00:02:06.200 Republican appointees that then Democrats would get to replace. Now 28 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:12.000 Biden proposed this. I think this was a last ditch 29 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:16.120 effort on Biden's part to hold on to power within 30 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:21.080 the Democrat coalition, to hold on to power and still 31 00:02:21.400 --> 00:02:25.479 continue to be the nominee. But alas, unfortunately for him, 32 00:02:25.879 --> 00:02:30.439 stuff happened. He's been pushed out. Kamala Harris has come in, 33 00:02:30.520 --> 00:02:33.400 but Biden already had announced he was going to propose 34 00:02:33.520 --> 00:02:41.159 this court packing scheme, and Biden has so, even though 35 00:02:41.199 --> 00:02:44.800 Biden's not running anymore, they've still rolled out this proposal 36 00:02:45.879 --> 00:02:49.560 and Harris has adopted it. Harris has said, all right, yep, 37 00:02:49.800 --> 00:02:54.080 I'm carrying this torch. And this is the the awkward 38 00:02:54.159 --> 00:02:57.120 thing that's going to hinder Harris throughout the campaign is 39 00:02:57.120 --> 00:02:59.840 that she is still Joe Biden's vice president and they 40 00:02:59.879 --> 00:03:03.919 have to show some sort of united front, so she 41 00:03:04.039 --> 00:03:08.560 has to kind of keep carrying the torch for this 42 00:03:08.680 --> 00:03:14.159 lame brain stuff that Biden's doing. So Harris is Harris 43 00:03:14.199 --> 00:03:21.759 is all for this. So that's what Biden's proposing. He's 44 00:03:21.800 --> 00:03:28.240 proposing eighteen year term limits for Supreme Court justices. Every 45 00:03:28.280 --> 00:03:33.159 two years a Supreme Court justice retires, which again, this 46 00:03:33.199 --> 00:03:38.159 would probably be retro applying to the older justices, so 47 00:03:38.199 --> 00:03:41.039 that would mean Clarence Thomas is out, John Roberts's out, 48 00:03:41.080 --> 00:03:45.879 Sam Alito is out. I want to make the case 49 00:03:47.120 --> 00:03:54.159 that this proposal by President Biden and Vice President Harris 50 00:03:55.560 --> 00:04:01.680 is about as bad as the careization of January sixth. 51 00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:05.960 This so to understand this, let's go back to what 52 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:13.159 is the chief actual core argument against Trump regarding January sixth. 53 00:04:13.159 --> 00:04:18.079 What was the chief ill Note that Trump was never 54 00:04:18.199 --> 00:04:21.240 actually charged with anything having to do with the riot 55 00:04:21.560 --> 00:04:27.319 that occurred on January sixth. He was not charged with 56 00:04:27.480 --> 00:04:32.279 inciting the riot because he said during a speech right beforehand, 57 00:04:32.519 --> 00:04:35.279 go and peacefully make your case. And the fact that 58 00:04:35.319 --> 00:04:38.079 he said that means that it can't be incitement. So 59 00:04:38.120 --> 00:04:40.560 it's not incitement in a legal sense. But I think 60 00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:45.920 there let's take this from the liberal perspective, liberal characterization 61 00:04:45.959 --> 00:04:53.240 of January sixth. Trump whipped these people up to resist 62 00:04:53.600 --> 00:04:56.519 the peaceful transition of power from one president to another, 63 00:04:58.439 --> 00:05:03.360 and Trump was trying to basically violate the Twelfth Amendment, 64 00:05:04.639 --> 00:05:10.759 which includes the process for the certification of the Electoral 65 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:17.920 College results, by pressuring Mike Pence against doing the normal 66 00:05:17.959 --> 00:05:23.199 certification of votes on the basis of Trump's suspicions that 67 00:05:23.240 --> 00:05:34.680 the results were fraudulent. Trump wanting to disrupt that ordinary, 68 00:05:34.920 --> 00:05:43.319 peaceful transition of power, many argue, disrupts the normal constitutional 69 00:05:43.480 --> 00:05:47.680 order and thus puts him out of bounds, puts him 70 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:52.839 in almost like this own suiurus category of unacceptability. That 71 00:05:52.879 --> 00:05:57.120 Trump is uniquely unacceptable because what he tried to do 72 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:05.759 after the election violated this very basic foundational mechanism that 73 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:10.959 we have to have if this American Republic experiment is 74 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:14.680 going to work. That people who lose elections, even if 75 00:06:14.720 --> 00:06:17.759 they're in a position of power, have to be able 76 00:06:17.800 --> 00:06:21.040 to give that up. He tried to have his vice 77 00:06:21.079 --> 00:06:24.040 president manipulate the system in order to keep him in 78 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:29.879 power even though he had lost. That's the interpretation of 79 00:06:29.920 --> 00:06:36.199 the events of January sixth. Now, I think the question 80 00:06:36.279 --> 00:06:40.240 gets more complicated if you say, well, what if some 81 00:06:40.319 --> 00:06:44.639 of the election results really were fraudulent? What if there 82 00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:47.800 was some evidence but not conclusive evidence, what if you know, 83 00:06:48.920 --> 00:06:50.959 we can have those, We can go on and on 84 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:55.439 and on with those discussions. But that's the interpretation of 85 00:06:55.519 --> 00:06:59.240 why Trump's conduct on January sixth was so bad. That basically, 86 00:06:59.240 --> 00:07:05.240 we have this very critically important norm that relies on 87 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:11.240 people doing the right thing. That if people don't do 88 00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:16.480 the right thing within this structure, basically the whole structure 89 00:07:16.519 --> 00:07:18.399 of American governance is going to fall apart. 90 00:07:19.439 --> 00:07:19.839 All right. 91 00:07:23.120 --> 00:07:27.040 I think President Biden's court packing system, and this is 92 00:07:27.160 --> 00:07:33.040 court packing. This is court packing by another name. Even 93 00:07:33.079 --> 00:07:38.480 if you go back and look at President Roosevelt, the 94 00:07:38.560 --> 00:07:43.160 classic case of court packing was when President Roosevelt, having 95 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:47.040 just won a massive electoral victory in nineteen thirty six. 96 00:07:48.879 --> 00:07:53.439 He had overwhelmingly been re elected president. His Democrats had 97 00:07:53.480 --> 00:07:58.680 been elected to astonishing majorities in both houses of Congress, 98 00:07:58.720 --> 00:08:01.120 over two thirds majorities both houses of Congress. They could 99 00:08:01.120 --> 00:08:06.399 do whatever they wanted. Roosevelt was getting stymied time and 100 00:08:06.439 --> 00:08:11.279 again by the Supreme Court, who was resistant to some 101 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:14.399 of his New Deal policies and kept ruling them unconstitutional. 102 00:08:14.920 --> 00:08:21.120 So Roosevelt proposed this idea that once justices got over 103 00:08:21.240 --> 00:08:24.040 a certain age, I think the age was seventy, that 104 00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:27.040 they could stay on in a kind of senior status, 105 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:30.879 but that the president would have the opportunity to appoint 106 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:36.120 additional justices. And there were six members of the Supreme 107 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:38.360 Court at that time who were over the age of seventy, 108 00:08:38.399 --> 00:08:41.720 and it would have if the law had passed, Roosevelt 109 00:08:41.720 --> 00:08:44.399 would have been able to nominate six Supreme Court justices. Now, 110 00:08:44.399 --> 00:08:46.639 it would have been really hilarious if Joe Biden tried 111 00:08:46.679 --> 00:08:49.679 to impose an upper range age limit for Supreme Court 112 00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:54.399 justices now. But the critical thing is what changing the 113 00:08:54.480 --> 00:08:58.159 rules for Supreme Court membership in order to change the 114 00:08:58.200 --> 00:09:02.799 ideological makeup of the court and thereby the outcomes. It's 115 00:09:02.840 --> 00:09:07.440 precisely what Roosevelt was doing. Biden's doing the same thing, 116 00:09:07.480 --> 00:09:10.399 He's proposing doing the same thing, and Harris in turn 117 00:09:10.519 --> 00:09:14.679 is supporting it, and all the Democrats, the whole Democrat Party, 118 00:09:15.080 --> 00:09:20.919 completely on board with this, which is a critical difference 119 00:09:20.919 --> 00:09:25.639 between that and January sixth. By the way, I don't 120 00:09:25.639 --> 00:09:29.840 think there's any agreement among Republicans about the events of 121 00:09:30.000 --> 00:09:32.480 January sixth. I think there are some Trump people who 122 00:09:32.519 --> 00:09:34.799 one hundred percent believe Mike Pence should have stopped it, 123 00:09:34.840 --> 00:09:36.679 and I think there are a ton of people who think, no, 124 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:40.080 Mike Pence wasn't doing anything wrong by not certifying those 125 00:09:40.120 --> 00:09:43.639 election results. Frankly, there's a bigger discussion about whether the 126 00:09:43.720 --> 00:09:46.440 vice president really has anything other than a ceremonial role 127 00:09:46.559 --> 00:09:48.600 with regards to that, and even if the vice president 128 00:09:48.639 --> 00:09:50.840 didn't certify those election results, blah blah blah blah blah 129 00:09:50.840 --> 00:09:58.480 blah blah. Anyway, total unanimity on the Democrats side for 130 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:02.360 creating term limits for the Court. Now, there are so 131 00:10:02.440 --> 00:10:05.759 many things wrong with this. One is the idea of 132 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:11.919 you can't do this with normal legislation. Okay, you can 133 00:10:12.919 --> 00:10:17.440 create additional seats on the court. You can change the 134 00:10:17.559 --> 00:10:20.440 number of Supreme Court justices if you wanted by a 135 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:24.879 simple law. The number of justices on the Supreme Court 136 00:10:25.480 --> 00:10:30.759 is not defined in the Constitution itself. The Constitution doesn't 137 00:10:30.799 --> 00:10:33.279 say there will be nine justices on the Supreme Court. 138 00:10:35.120 --> 00:10:40.559 Congress has over the course of centuries changed the number 139 00:10:40.639 --> 00:10:42.799 of justices who serve on the Supreme Court, and we've 140 00:10:42.799 --> 00:10:45.799 been stuck at nine since I think since a little 141 00:10:45.799 --> 00:10:47.480 after the Civil War. I think it was around eighteen 142 00:10:47.519 --> 00:10:52.639 seventy that they said it at nine. But the terms 143 00:10:52.679 --> 00:10:58.600 of service of Supreme Court justices are set by the Constitution. 144 00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:05.720 Supreme Court justices serve during good behavior. Is the exact 145 00:11:05.799 --> 00:11:12.320 quote good behavior, which means there's no term limit. They 146 00:11:12.360 --> 00:11:19.120 serve for life, for life, or until they resign. So 147 00:11:19.159 --> 00:11:21.799 there's no term limit on Supreme Court justices. And that's 148 00:11:21.960 --> 00:11:25.080 in the Constitution itself. So you can't all of a 149 00:11:25.080 --> 00:11:28.720 sudden give them an eighteen year term limit just by 150 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:36.240 a statute passed by the House. It passed by the 151 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:38.360 House and passed by the Senate and signed by the President. 152 00:11:38.559 --> 00:11:41.240 You can't do that. You would need a constitutional amendment. 153 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:45.440 And let's recall, amending the Constitution is insanely difficult. It 154 00:11:45.480 --> 00:11:48.200 takes the two thirds majorities in both houses of Congress 155 00:11:48.600 --> 00:11:52.039 plus three quarters of all the state legislatures, which Democrats 156 00:11:52.039 --> 00:12:03.399 know they can't get. So I would say this is 157 00:12:04.039 --> 00:12:11.879 an enormous attack on the integrity of the courts, the 158 00:12:11.919 --> 00:12:20.600 independence of the courts. Why because it becomes purely, rawly 159 00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:27.080 something that's part of the political spoils and a raw 160 00:12:27.639 --> 00:12:35.000 effort to reshape the judiciary, reshape the law. Because you 161 00:12:35.080 --> 00:12:43.679 are losing elections the terms with which Roosevelt's proposal was 162 00:12:43.759 --> 00:12:48.960 rejected in nineteen after the nineteen thirty six elections, when 163 00:12:49.039 --> 00:12:53.399 Roosevelt proposed his court packing scheme, the Democrats in his 164 00:12:54.519 --> 00:13:01.679 own fellow Democrats in Congress rejected it and said, basically, 165 00:13:01.720 --> 00:13:06.639 this is a totalitarian act to bring the judiciary, which 166 00:13:06.679 --> 00:13:10.639 is supposed to be independent, under the control of the 167 00:13:10.679 --> 00:13:16.000 executive and legislative branches, and purely to turn the Supreme 168 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:20.559 Court into the spoils of war. This is the spoils 169 00:13:20.559 --> 00:13:26.240 of politics. It takes away any sort of sense of 170 00:13:26.279 --> 00:13:32.679 the judiciary as an independent thing that's out on its own, 171 00:13:34.519 --> 00:13:40.919 that isn't accountable to the vagaries of politics. Lifetime appointment 172 00:13:41.080 --> 00:13:44.879 gives you a certain sense of invulnerability because you are invulnerable. 173 00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:46.320 You have your job. That's it. 174 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:52.440 Framewars of the Constitution were very hyper cautious and aware 175 00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:58.399 about people's jobs and people having their jobs, and when 176 00:13:58.559 --> 00:14:02.159 a legal change happens such that someone no longer has 177 00:14:02.200 --> 00:14:06.120 a job, that that's a problem. You're hyper aware of that. 178 00:14:08.399 --> 00:14:11.039 So that the notion. So, by the way, it renders 179 00:14:11.159 --> 00:14:15.200 ridiculous that the liberal notion, which apparently Lawrence Tribe and 180 00:14:15.600 --> 00:14:18.159 Joe Biden cooked this up, when they when Biden was 181 00:14:18.159 --> 00:14:21.200 trying to workshop this proposal, Lawrence Tribe, the retired law 182 00:14:21.240 --> 00:14:24.399 professor at Howard Law School, that, oh, well, they can 183 00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:26.759 serve for eighteen years of Supreme Court justices and then 184 00:14:26.879 --> 00:14:28.840 and then you know, they get to go down and. 185 00:14:28.759 --> 00:14:31.200 Be you know, circuit court judges after that. 186 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:34.120 So so they still get to serve in good behavior, 187 00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:37.960 you know, as if being a circuit court job isn't 188 00:14:38.000 --> 00:14:42.200 a demotion, I mean, which it clearly is. It's a demotion. 189 00:14:43.159 --> 00:14:47.679 So you you're losing this big job for a lesser job. 190 00:14:48.559 --> 00:14:50.919 Like the idea that the framers of the Constitution would 191 00:14:50.919 --> 00:15:00.480 be okay with that is preposterous. This is a fundamental shift. 192 00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:04.679 If this Biden Harris policy happens, it would be a 193 00:15:04.799 --> 00:15:11.559 fundamental shift in American governance. And I think it would 194 00:15:11.559 --> 00:15:14.200 start a constitutional crisis. And when we return, I will 195 00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:18.399 explain how I think it would start a constitutional crisis. 196 00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:19.799 That's next on the John Girardy Show. 197 00:15:21.879 --> 00:15:24.480 So here's the scenario I haven't heard anyone talk about 198 00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:29.919 if this Harris Biden court packing scheme actually comes to pass. 199 00:15:29.960 --> 00:15:33.159 And by the way, this is a proposed law that 200 00:15:33.240 --> 00:15:36.159 Biden has rolled out, and that Harris is embracing to 201 00:15:36.200 --> 00:15:41.840 put eighteen year term limits on Supreme Court justices. Every 202 00:15:41.879 --> 00:15:45.080 two years, a Supreme Court justice would roll off. Every 203 00:15:45.080 --> 00:15:48.759 president would get to Supreme Court picks. But presumably it 204 00:15:48.759 --> 00:15:55.919 would retro effect. Most likely the three longest serving justices 205 00:15:55.960 --> 00:15:57.919 on the Court. Clarence Thomas has been on the court 206 00:15:57.960 --> 00:16:03.559 for like thirty years, John Robert, who long and then 207 00:16:03.639 --> 00:16:08.159 John Roberts and Sam Alito, both of whom joined the 208 00:16:08.200 --> 00:16:13.320 Supreme Court at least eighteen years ago. This year is 209 00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:17.639 sam Alito's eighteenth year. So presumably this isn't getting passed. 210 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:20.200 If this bill passes, it's not going to be passed 211 00:16:20.200 --> 00:16:24.159 in this Congress. It would be passed assuming Harris wins 212 00:16:24.360 --> 00:16:27.440 and assuming Democrats take control of the House. Okay, so 213 00:16:28.279 --> 00:16:31.080 the three people who would be impacted by this immediately 214 00:16:31.879 --> 00:16:42.799 are Thomas, Roberts, Alito. Let's say this law passes majority 215 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:45.360 in the House, Democrats break the fill of uster, and 216 00:16:45.399 --> 00:16:49.360 the Senate pass it in the Senate, and President Kamala Harris, 217 00:16:50.759 --> 00:16:54.720 the very idea makes one's skin crawl, signs it into law. 218 00:16:56.840 --> 00:17:02.799 So by the terms of that laws out, Roberts is out, 219 00:17:03.240 --> 00:17:07.039 Alito is out, and Harris would get to nominate their 220 00:17:07.079 --> 00:17:17.960 replacements right away. What if Roberts and Thomas and Alito, 221 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:19.799 and I could one hundred percent see all three of 222 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:22.839 them doing this, including Roberts. By the way, Like I know, 223 00:17:22.960 --> 00:17:26.079 Roberts is kind of squishy on a lot of things, 224 00:17:27.079 --> 00:17:29.680 But if there's one thing Roberts is, he's an institutionalist. 225 00:17:29.720 --> 00:17:33.240 And I think if there's been anything that has been 226 00:17:33.480 --> 00:17:38.599 causing Roberts to moderate his positions over the last several years, 227 00:17:39.599 --> 00:17:41.720 I think the two things have been. One, that fact 228 00:17:41.720 --> 00:17:47.039 that he despises Donald Trump, or the very reasonable suspicion 229 00:17:47.079 --> 00:17:50.640 anyway that he despises Donald Trump. But two, I think 230 00:17:50.720 --> 00:17:54.200 Roberts has been terrified precisely of this. I think Roberts 231 00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:59.440 has been terrified of the idea that the Court's institutional 232 00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:04.079 standing in the eyes of political partisans is so badly 233 00:18:04.119 --> 00:18:09.039 impacted that they might try something radical to attack the 234 00:18:09.079 --> 00:18:12.480 integrity of the Court itself, like court packing. So I 235 00:18:12.519 --> 00:18:16.079 think for Roberts, this is the absolute worst case scenario. 236 00:18:17.799 --> 00:18:23.039 What if Democrats pass this law and Roberts, Alito, and 237 00:18:23.119 --> 00:18:29.200 Thomas refuse to vacate their offices. What if all three 238 00:18:29.240 --> 00:18:37.960 of them say absolutely not you can't impose term limits 239 00:18:38.000 --> 00:18:42.160 on Supreme Court justices by a normal statute. This is 240 00:18:42.319 --> 00:18:45.799 our job that we hold according to Article three of 241 00:18:45.799 --> 00:18:53.319 the Constitution, quote in good behavior. That means until we're 242 00:18:53.359 --> 00:18:59.880 either impeached and removed, or we die or we resign. 243 00:19:00.039 --> 00:19:10.359 Until then, we're here and we're not going anywhere. President 244 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:15.279 Harris sends the FBI to arrest them for trespass. I 245 00:19:15.319 --> 00:19:18.400 could see Clarence Thomas and Sam Alito, certainly, and maybe 246 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:21.079 even Roberts taking it that far and saying, you go 247 00:19:21.119 --> 00:19:26.720 ahead and arrest us. We're not going anywhere. And I 248 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:33.200 could see them filing a lawsuit to say this law 249 00:19:33.720 --> 00:19:40.880 passed by Congress violates the US Constitution and violates our rights. 250 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:44.720 At our rights, US three Supreme Court justices, we have 251 00:19:44.799 --> 00:19:48.279 a right to lifetime tenure. This law is unconstitutional and 252 00:19:48.359 --> 00:19:53.279 violates our right. And then that's gonna get adjudicated through 253 00:19:53.319 --> 00:20:01.480 the court system. So what happens who Obviously that'll have 254 00:20:01.519 --> 00:20:03.720 to get adjudicated all the way to the US Supreme Court. 255 00:20:04.839 --> 00:20:09.079 So who rules on it? Do those three have to 256 00:20:09.119 --> 00:20:12.720 recuse themselves? What if Kamala Harris has appointed new Supreme 257 00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:16.960 Court justices, do they get to take office space, do 258 00:20:17.279 --> 00:20:20.200 they get to serve Do they get to be on 259 00:20:20.319 --> 00:20:23.400 the court hearing that case? Do they get to be 260 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:26.799 on the court hearing any cases? What if they don't 261 00:20:26.839 --> 00:20:31.759 recuse themselves? Guess what, that's the thing with Supreme Court justices. 262 00:20:31.799 --> 00:20:34.640 They kind of decide for themselves win. And if they 263 00:20:34.680 --> 00:20:41.640 recuse themselves. What if President Harris's new Supreme Court justices 264 00:20:42.359 --> 00:20:46.000 refuse to recuse themselves, they probably will. There are gonna 265 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:48.160 be a bunch of liberals. They're going to be holding 266 00:20:48.200 --> 00:20:54.880 this job on the premise that President Harris's conduct was constitutional, 267 00:20:54.920 --> 00:20:59.200 that this law was constitutional. So you're gonna have six 268 00:20:59.680 --> 00:21:03.720 liberals deciding whether or not Chief Justice Roberts, I mean, 269 00:21:03.720 --> 00:21:11.799 you are setting the country up for a constitutional crisis 270 00:21:12.400 --> 00:21:14.720 where there's going to be a new majority on the 271 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:20.960 Supreme Court that conservatives will rightly believe is unconstitutional, where 272 00:21:21.000 --> 00:21:25.000 you're going to have to take Clarence Thomas kicking and 273 00:21:25.119 --> 00:21:30.359 screaming out of his legitimately kicking and legitimately screaming because 274 00:21:30.599 --> 00:21:34.400 he would be one hundred percent right from office. So 275 00:21:35.759 --> 00:21:38.319 let me just ask, if you're going to fundamental if 276 00:21:38.359 --> 00:21:42.519 you're going to create a constitutional crisis like this, How 277 00:21:42.519 --> 00:21:46.440 are you respecting norms? How are you any better than 278 00:21:46.559 --> 00:21:52.480 your worst interpretation of what Donald Trump did? You think 279 00:21:52.519 --> 00:21:55.359 Donald Trump is wrecking? Look, if you want to take 280 00:21:55.400 --> 00:21:59.359 the approach that Donald Trump's actions on January sixth were 281 00:21:59.359 --> 00:22:05.240 a massive attack on the integrity of the executive branch, 282 00:22:05.400 --> 00:22:09.000 the peaceful transition of power in American politics, something that's 283 00:22:09.119 --> 00:22:13.279 very core to our republican system. Okay, I'll allow you 284 00:22:13.359 --> 00:22:15.799 to have that position, but you can't in the same 285 00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:19.599 breath say that you support this court packing system and 286 00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:23.839 doing it via a statute. It would create a fundamental 287 00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:29.519 constitutional crisis where people would not be sure who's actually 288 00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:35.720 legitimately on the Supreme Court and who's not it and 289 00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:41.000 fundamentally turning the Supreme Court purely into the spoils of politics. 290 00:22:41.799 --> 00:22:49.799 It is such a disastrous norm destroying an idea to 291 00:22:49.880 --> 00:22:52.480 do it via a statute. Look, if you want to 292 00:22:52.480 --> 00:22:55.720 do this, you've got to do it via a constitutional amendment. 293 00:22:56.119 --> 00:22:59.200 If you did it via constitutional amendment, I'm sure Thomas 294 00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:01.680 and Alito and Robert would think that it's a bad idea, 295 00:23:02.440 --> 00:23:05.839 but that's what the Constitution says now, and they would 296 00:23:05.839 --> 00:23:08.119 step aside. But they're not stepping aside for a statute. 297 00:23:08.160 --> 00:23:12.880 I can guarantee you that when we return, the naked 298 00:23:13.400 --> 00:23:20.240 political effort to reshift Fresno County elections and win those 299 00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:22.359 Fresne County elections happened. That is next on the John 300 00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:28.640 Girardi Show. DeLaura is where To has been mad about 301 00:23:28.680 --> 00:23:32.079 Presne County elections. She's been mad about Presne County elections, 302 00:23:32.119 --> 00:23:34.319 She's been mad about Fresne County redistricting. 303 00:23:34.359 --> 00:23:35.319 De Laura's where To the. 304 00:23:36.000 --> 00:23:38.680 Person who kind of tries to act like she is 305 00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:42.480 a great civil rights leader because she was, I guess 306 00:23:42.640 --> 00:23:45.920 around at the same time as Caesar Chavez, but today 307 00:23:46.119 --> 00:23:49.839 is just a very run of the mill, milk toast 308 00:23:49.960 --> 00:23:54.839 liberal activist for just basic Democrat causes. 309 00:23:55.039 --> 00:23:55.720 That's all she is. 310 00:23:57.440 --> 00:24:01.680 And I think it's no surprise given her advocacy within 311 00:24:01.799 --> 00:24:04.839 Fresno County, specifically in her anger at like Fresno County 312 00:24:04.880 --> 00:24:08.480 supervisors being structured the way that they are. It seems 313 00:24:08.519 --> 00:24:12.079 like there are a number of state efforts looking particularly 314 00:24:12.160 --> 00:24:17.480 at Fresno County and Kerrent County. I think is maybe 315 00:24:17.519 --> 00:24:19.960 a little part of this, but mostly Fresno County because 316 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:25.640 I think Fresno County is the largest county in California 317 00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:33.759 that has pretty conservative county government. Maybe Orange County is 318 00:24:34.039 --> 00:24:37.039 more so, but Fresno is certainly up there that it 319 00:24:37.079 --> 00:24:39.880 has pretty conservative county government. In spite of the fact 320 00:24:40.240 --> 00:24:43.960 that Fresno County broke for Joe Biden in twenty twenty 321 00:24:43.960 --> 00:24:46.240 and broke for Hillary Clinton in twenty sixteen. Fresno County 322 00:24:46.279 --> 00:24:49.559 is getting more and more liberal, but Fresno County government 323 00:24:49.839 --> 00:24:54.640 is not. The County Board of Supervisors is. Even though 324 00:24:54.839 --> 00:24:59.200 I don't think they run with partisan you know, labels 325 00:24:59.240 --> 00:25:02.119 on them, everyone kind of knows the deal. Actually, I'm 326 00:25:02.160 --> 00:25:04.720 not sure about that, whether I need to look that up. 327 00:25:04.720 --> 00:25:07.599 Whether county supervisors run openly as Republican or Democrat, I 328 00:25:07.640 --> 00:25:10.079 don't think they do, but nonetheless everyone knows the score. 329 00:25:11.119 --> 00:25:15.799 There are three Republicans and two Democrats on the Fresno 330 00:25:15.880 --> 00:25:22.200 County Board of Supervisors. Lisa Smith Camp is very Republican 331 00:25:22.279 --> 00:25:26.519 leaning as the district attorney for Fresno County. It's a 332 00:25:26.559 --> 00:25:30.759 conservative leaning county government and that has annoyed and even 333 00:25:30.839 --> 00:25:33.279 I mean the frankly, even the Democrats on the County 334 00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:37.799 Board of Supervisors are pretty moderate leaning. Brian Pataiko and 335 00:25:37.880 --> 00:25:45.319 Salcintero are hardly you know, Loraina Gonzalez esque, you know, 336 00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:54.079 left wing fire breathers. So there is a fight happening now. 337 00:25:55.039 --> 00:25:59.720 The Attorney General's Office in California, under Rob Bonta, who 338 00:25:59.799 --> 00:26:05.000 is died in the wool liberal and obviously aware of 339 00:26:05.039 --> 00:26:08.599 Fresno County, is more conservative government and dislikes it, has 340 00:26:08.599 --> 00:26:12.799 filed a lawsuit against Fresno County. And this has to 341 00:26:12.839 --> 00:26:18.039 do with a twenty twenty two ballot initiative that was 342 00:26:18.359 --> 00:26:27.839 passed that changes a bit the cycle for when Fresno 343 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:36.400 County elections happen, so. 344 00:26:34.839 --> 00:26:36.759 Basically it results. 345 00:26:37.119 --> 00:26:43.880 It was this Fresno County Measure A, and the idea 346 00:26:44.000 --> 00:26:49.319 behind Measure A is that it shifts elections for the 347 00:26:49.319 --> 00:26:54.319 sheriff and the district attorney to non presidential years. I 348 00:26:54.359 --> 00:26:57.839 think up to this point, elections for the district attorney 349 00:26:57.880 --> 00:27:02.160 and sheriff's offices have happened during election presidential election years, 350 00:27:02.160 --> 00:27:04.880 so twenty twenty, twenty twenty four, et cetera, and it's 351 00:27:04.880 --> 00:27:09.799 going to shift them to non presidential election years. 352 00:27:13.000 --> 00:27:13.240 Now. 353 00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:19.119 The way that this is being messaged by the Attorney 354 00:27:19.119 --> 00:27:23.680 General's Office is that Fresno County is attempting to engage 355 00:27:24.279 --> 00:27:31.359 in voter suppression, voter suppression by not having these elections 356 00:27:32.400 --> 00:27:38.200 during presidential year cycles. So they passed Presno County passed 357 00:27:38.200 --> 00:27:40.400 Measure A, and one of the effects of it is 358 00:27:40.440 --> 00:27:44.599 that it extended terms of office for the sheriff and 359 00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:50.599 for the sheriff and the DA by two years. So 360 00:27:50.920 --> 00:27:54.319 Lisa Smith Camp basically was winding up. She was going 361 00:27:54.359 --> 00:28:01.240 to serve a six year term basically because the elections 362 00:28:01.240 --> 00:28:03.920 for sheriff and DA were in presidential cycles. Now we're 363 00:28:03.960 --> 00:28:07.119 shifting them to non presidential cycles. So twenty twenty two, 364 00:28:07.240 --> 00:28:16.000 twenty twenty six, twenty thirty, et cetera. The Attorney General's 365 00:28:16.039 --> 00:28:19.200 Office is saying that's voter suppression because there's less turnout 366 00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:21.960 in off your elections, and so Fresno County is trying 367 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:26.039 to suppress the vote, to manipulate people so they can't 368 00:28:26.160 --> 00:28:29.880 vote for DA and so that they can't vote for 369 00:28:29.960 --> 00:28:32.200 DA and they can't vote for sheriff and blah blah 370 00:28:32.200 --> 00:28:38.240 blah blah blah, to which Fresno County responds, well, what 371 00:28:38.279 --> 00:28:40.839 are you talking about. This isn't voter suppression. No One 372 00:28:40.880 --> 00:28:44.559 is not allowed to vote. Lots of people voting off 373 00:28:44.599 --> 00:28:48.079 your elections. The governor's race happens in and off your election. 374 00:28:48.200 --> 00:28:51.039 Is that a violation of democracy? To have the governor's 375 00:28:51.119 --> 00:28:55.240 race happen during off year cycles. The governor gets elected. 376 00:28:55.640 --> 00:28:58.319 We just had a governor's election in twenty twenty two. 377 00:28:59.359 --> 00:29:01.400 Governor's election. It happens every four years. It's always on 378 00:29:01.440 --> 00:29:04.400 the off years. It's in you two, twenty twenty six, 379 00:29:04.480 --> 00:29:10.079 twenty thirty, et cetera. Is that violating principles of democracy? 380 00:29:10.119 --> 00:29:13.839 Is that voter suppression? Why is it voter suppression for 381 00:29:13.920 --> 00:29:16.119 Fresno County to have their elections in an off year 382 00:29:16.559 --> 00:29:19.960 rather than during a presidential year? And they talked about 383 00:29:19.960 --> 00:29:22.160 look some of the issues that impact local government. They 384 00:29:22.160 --> 00:29:26.480 can wind up getting swallowed into more general discussions about 385 00:29:26.519 --> 00:29:29.440 what's happening in a presidential cycle. We think it's better 386 00:29:30.039 --> 00:29:33.279 to have these in an off year. Now, those are 387 00:29:33.319 --> 00:29:35.440 sort of the policy arguments back and forth where I 388 00:29:35.759 --> 00:29:39.720 find the liberal policy arguments to be absurd. I think 389 00:29:39.759 --> 00:29:44.240 liberals sort of suspect and maybe they're absurd on both sides. 390 00:29:44.440 --> 00:29:47.359 I think liberals suspect that they would have a better 391 00:29:47.480 --> 00:29:51.920 shot at getting a more liberal leaning person elected as 392 00:29:52.240 --> 00:29:58.240 the DA and elected as the sheriff of Fresnoe County. 393 00:29:58.359 --> 00:30:01.559 If those elections were held in presidentidential years, why, Well, 394 00:30:01.599 --> 00:30:06.640 on the theory that you know, again, Fresno County voted 395 00:30:06.680 --> 00:30:10.359 for Joe Biden in twenty twenty, Joe Biden won Fresno County. 396 00:30:11.079 --> 00:30:15.240 Hillary Clinton won Fresnoe County in twenty sixteen. So I 397 00:30:15.279 --> 00:30:16.960 think the theory is, well, if you get all those 398 00:30:17.039 --> 00:30:19.759 presidential election voters to vote for sheriff and to vote 399 00:30:19.759 --> 00:30:24.079 for DA, then maybe we could get Democrats elected to 400 00:30:24.119 --> 00:30:29.200 those positions. And maybe Republicans are thinking the opposite. Holy cow, 401 00:30:29.279 --> 00:30:32.680