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By TCR Staff | February 8, 2021

A number of progressives appear to be heading toward a showdown with President Joe Biden over a new commission that will study changes to the Supreme Court, underscoring the tricky politics at play for an administration that is aiming for bipartisanship but also hoping to retain support from the left flank, reports USA Today. Biden proposed the commission in October to head off a push by liberals to expand the number of justices on the nine-member court an effort prompted by the quick confirmation of Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett days before the Nov. 3 election. Her narrow approval gave conservatives a 6-3 advantage, the most lopsided split since the 1930s. Several progressives said they remain hopeful about the commissions work but are also sounding early alarms over its composition and timeline. The panel itself was widely seen as a way for Biden to punt on a proposal that has been politically poisonous since President D. Franklin Roosevelts failed attempt to pack the court in his second term.

The pressure for some kind of overhaul has not come exclusively from left-leaning groups. Eric Holder, who served as attorney general under Obama, said during a recent Brookings Institution event that federal courts badly need reforms and asserted that Democrats are uncomfortable with using their power in a way that Republicans have not been. Expanding the size of the Supreme Court wont win Republican support and it has already made some centrist Democrats squeamish. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., a key swing vote, said in October he opposes adding justices.

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