court packing

American  

[kawrt pak-ing] / ˈkɔrt ˌpæk ɪŋ /

Or court-packing

noun

1. the practice of changing the number or composition of judges on a court, making it more favorable to particular goals or ideologies, and typically involving an increase in the number of seats on the court.

   Court packing can tip the balance of the Supreme Court toward the right or left.

2. U.S. History. an unsuccessful attempt by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1937 to appoint up to six additional justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, which had invalidated a number of his New Deal laws.

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Usage

Why is court packing trending? On September 22, 2020, searches for court packing increased 23,225% compared to the previous week following the death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.The second woman appointed to the Supreme Court, where she served as an associate justice for over 27 years, Ginsburg died from complications caused by metastatic pancreatic cancer at the age of 87.Popularly referred to as “Notorious RBG” for her trenchant dissenting opinions, Ginsburg leaves behind a jurisprudence advancing gender equality and women’s rights—and a liberal legacy that transformed American life and law in her long career as a public servant.In the wake of her passing, the Republican vow to fill her seat despite the precedent they followed not to fill a vacancy in 2016 led some political pundits, journalists, and observers to raise the topic of court packing.Court packing, in the sense of adding more justices to the Supreme Court, has been discussed as one way Democrats might counteract an enduring conservative majority on the court were they to win back the Senate and White House in 2020. This meaning of court packing is historically associated with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's attempt in the late 1930s. However, other efforts to rebalance or manipulate the ideological composition of the court have also been called court packing, historically—most notably by William Rehnquist during the 1984 presidential election cycle. Why was Ginsburg dubbed notorious? How is that word different from infamous? And how does dissent compare to protest? We issue some lexical rulings on the important differences in our articles, “'Infamous' vs. 'Notorious': Why Is There A Difference?” and “'Dissent' vs. 'Protest': Why Choosing The Right Word Matters.”

Etymology

Origin of court packing

First recorded in 1935–40

Example Sentences

Trust in the Supreme Court has plummeted since the conservative court packing of the Trump years, polls show.

From Los Angeles Times

The organization also has backed adding more justices to the high court — known as “court packing” — to counter the 6-3 conservative majority.

From Washington Times

Here's what you need to know as you start your day Democrats renew court packing calls, blast the Supreme Court's final two decisions of term Democrats on Thursday expressed their displeasure with the Supreme Court's final decisions of its 2020-2021 term, accusing the justices of doing "severe damage" to the political system and in some cases re-upping their calls to pack the court with liberal justices appointed by President Biden.

From Fox News

“The end result of court packing would lead to inconsistent rulings that undermine the legitimacy of the Court and fail to guide our nation and serve our states,” the governors added.

From Washington Times

“Legal scholars from across the country and on both sides of the political aisle agree that court packing will breed perpetual court packing — it will never be enough. Each partisan shift will result in seats added to the Court until the Court has lost not only its independence but its authority,” the letter reads.

From Washington Times