This week, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison endorsed one of the most radical and dangerous proposals in modern politics: court-packing. In a post on X, he joined a swelling chorus of Democrats, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), determined to sideline the Constitution to secure rulings that align with their partisan agenda. Even President Joe Biden, who long avoided the matter, embraced an alternative means of court packing by seeking to force out Republican-appointed justices.
Few institutions in American life still command any significant level of trust, and the Supreme Court remains one of the last, with an approval rating nearing 50%, more than double that of Congress. But if Democrats succeed in packing the court, they will shatter what remains of its legitimacy.
Let’s be clear: Court-packing isn’t just another wonky legislative proposal. It’s an existential threat to the independence of the judiciary. It would set a precedent by which each party aims to manipulate outcomes before the court by manipulating its size. Instead of the Supreme Court maintaining its rule as an interpreter of the law, the court would become a vehicle that simply imposes the political preferences of the governing party at the time. But the hard Left, frustrated by recent rulings, is zealous about rewriting the fundamental rules governing our nation and proposes this radical step. Indeed, the Left’s support for court packing fits a larger, more disturbing pattern of dismantling institutions that stand in its way.
Take, for example, the effort to control information on the internet and elsewhere. It isn’t about “public safety” as many on the Left claim. Rather, it’s a coordinated campaign to silence dissent. Ellison also celebrated Brazil’s decision to ban X, one of the largest social media platforms in the world. Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) took this a step further, suggesting on MSNBC that free speech protections don’t apply to “misinformation.” And former President Barack Obama has called for tighter regulations on social media platforms to combat the scourge of “misinformation.” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) has echoed him, and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) has pushed for tech companies to suppress certain stories.
The implications are chilling. This authoritarian impulse reveals that the Democratic Party is more than willing to silence opposition whenever it suits its interests. Yet when politicians start defining which views are valid and which are not, we’re edging precariously close to a system in which only one version of the truth is permitted and, in turn, dissent is punished. This is censorship, and it goes against the core of what the First Amendment protects — namely, the right to express unpopular or controversial ideas.
The Left’s spite for the Constitution is further exemplified by its reaction to Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. The Supreme Court’s ruling this past June curtails the power of administrative agencies, forcing Congress to legislate once again — as mandated by the Constitution. This is a positive step toward restoring the democratic process. But for the hard Left, this is unacceptable. Sanders, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), among others, lashed out. Warren actually introduced legislation to return America to a system of rule by unelected bureaucrats.
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All these efforts — whether packing the court, muzzling speech, or striving to circumvent Congress — are part of a left-wing crusade to demolish constitutional protections. Avid students of history, the Founding Fathers were keenly aware that power corrupts. That is precisely why they designed a system of government that divides power and enshrined it in our Constitution. But the Constitution cannot defend itself. As citizens, we are obligated to vote for leaders who uphold it, challenge prohibited actions in court, and speak out loudly against any and all efforts to erode its safeguards.
Jim Schultz is President of the Minnesota Private Business Council and was the Republican candidate for Minnesota Attorney General in 2022. Follow: @JimForMn.