For the Record: Tenth Justice

 

Stephen Johnson Field of California, the last 10th Justice. Via Wikipedia.

By the way, y'all know who succeeded in packing the Supreme Court? Did you know that it actually happened?

She didn't fabricate a quote, she backed an incorrect interpretation.

BTW a better interpretation shows how much smarter Lincoln was than Trump, who shot his wad before Justice Ginsburg's funeral and gained zero votes pic.twitter.com/UcydNGChvo

— Ghastly Blyansky (@Yastreblyansky) October 9, 2020

It was Congress that established the 10th seat (partly to help administer the newly established 10th Circuit of California and Oregon, but partly to rebalance the overly conservative Court of Dred Scott CJ Roger Taney).

— Ghastly Blyansky (@Yastreblyansky) October 9, 2020

Later, after Taney's death, Lincoln replaced him with a more "leftist" Justice, his Radical Republican Treasury secretary Salmon P. Chase as CJ.

— Ghastly Blyansky (@Yastreblyansky) October 9, 2020

If Biden expands the Court, I would expect it to be after the style of Lincoln and Obama: only with a push from Congress, and in all probability naming a conservative to the new seat (a NeverTrumper, hopefully not approved by Federalist Society but no leftist).

— Ghastly Blyansky (@Yastreblyansky) October 9, 2020

But replacing Thomas or Alito, if that turned out to be possible (those guys are always spreading the story that they'd like to retire, but they never go through with it) with somebody more fun, and maybe reverting to nine justices when the crisis is over, as happened in the 1860s. In any case I really wish it would happen, and your sacred historical authority is right here, for your reading pleasure. They did this thing, and it didn't destroy the Republic. It didn't even change it as much as one might like.