The Law and Lore Behind ‘Packing’ the U.S. Supreme Court

Fights for Supreme Court vacancies, which are rare, are among the ugliest spectacles of an extremely partisan era. In particular, liberal frustration has risen since 2016 when the death of Conservative Judge Antonin Scalia gave Democratic President Barack Obama the opportunity to move the court to the left. But Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, declined to consider Obama’s nomination for Merrick Garland on the grounds that a vacancy should not be filled during a presidential year. So it was not Obama, but Republican Donald Trump who filled the position with Neil Gorsuch. Fast forward to 2020. With the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one of the court’s leading liberal voices, a seat became vacant just six weeks before election day. In this case, Republicans rushed to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett and strengthen the court’s conservative majority.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/the-law-and-lore-behind-packing-the-us-supreme-court/2021/12/06/6da9a430-56e3-11ec-8396-5552bef55c3c_story.html