Thread by @SenWhitehouse

The response to our brief from Republicans and the partisan donor interests driving the Court’s polarization shows exactly why it’s time to speak out. They want us to shut up about their capture of the Court; we will not.
washingtonpost.com/politics/court…

Here’s what’s notable about the Republican letter:

It projects on the brief changing the Court’s number, something neither the brief nor any author of it has proposed.

It matches the talking points from far-right "news" outlets almost exactly, likely signaling coordination.

It ignores that the term "restructuring" is not our word but a word taken from a public poll, which we accurately quoted.

It dodges the undeniable pattern of the 73 5-4 partisan decisions the Roberts Five have produced helping big Republican donor interests.

It dodges the dark money now infiltrated into the selection of Justices and into the political campaigns for their confirmation.

It dodges the dark money now surrounding the Court through strategic litigation entities and amicus brief writers.

It dodges the long and very openly declared history of Republican efforts to capture the Court and bend it to the interests of big donors.

It is, in sum, exactly what you would expect as a partisan reaction if our concerns about capture of the Court were well founded.

As to me at least, my calls for reform have been:

(1) to improve transparency into all the dark money now circling the Court;

(2) to improve the Court’s ethics reporting and give it a Code of Ethics;

and (3) that Justices themselves judge by the principles they so readily espouse at their confirmation hearings—respect for precedent, judicial modesty, deference to Congress and the finders of fact.