A Texas-based civil liberties group delivered a letter and petition telling the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States (PCSCUS) that it should reject proposals to expand the nation’s highest tribunal to make it more amenable to progressive legislation to expand the federal government.
“Since our country’s founding, the Constitution has stood as a bulwark against threats to liberty and fundamental rights. Time and again, courts have protected Americans—small and great alike—from government overreach and the silencing of dissent,” Kelly Shackelford, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Plano, Texas-based First Liberty Institute said in a letter made public Wednesday.
The letter was addressed to Professors Bob Bauer and Christina Rodriquez, Co-Chairmen of the PCSCUS. President Joe Biden appointed the PCSCUS in April to study proposals to expand the Supreme Court from its current nine members to as many as 13.
Biden described the purpose of the PCSCUS as “to closely study measures to improve the federal judiciary, including those that would expand access the court system.”
Many Democrats in the most liberal wing of the party want to expand the High Court in the hope that doing so will prevent its current 5-4 conservative majority from ruling unconstitutional proposals to expand the federal government’s authority and powers.
“If politically motivated schemes to reform the Supreme Court are successful, the judiciary will no longer be a safeguard of our civil liberties. Instead, it will be little more than a political tool of the executive and legislative branches used to crush the freedom of all Americans,” the letter continued.
“Current discussions of ‘court reform’ are transparent, partisan plots designed to achieve purely political objectives through the use of raw power. The commission should reject such ‘reforms’ that attack the integrity of our courts and open the door to the demise of our freedoms,” the letter said.
Also signing the letter with Shackelford were a lengthy list of top officials from conservative and evangelical Christian non-profits and advocacy groups, including Franklin Graham of Samaritan’s Purse, former Attorney General Edwin Meese, Heritage Foundation President Kay James, Dr. James Dobson, L. Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center (MRC), Katherine Glenn of Americans United for Life, Star Parker of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE), Tim Wildmon of the American Family Association (AFA), and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council (FRC).
