@mondairejones.bsky.social Profile picture
Sep 19, 2020 5 tweets 1 min read Read on X
The way we talk about court expansion is important. It’s not about Democrats vs. Republicans. Justice John Paul Stevens was a Republican. So was David Souter.

Due to the hyper-partisan majority on today’s Supreme Court, expansion is about what it means to live in a democracy.
In 2006, Congress reauthorized the Voting Rights Act by near-unanimous margins: 390-33 in the House, and 98-0 in the Senate. President Bush signed it into law.

The Supreme Court gutted it in 2013.

Almost immediately, Jim Crow returned, and our democracy unraveled.
The current Congress made its first order of business to fix democracy by passing the For The People Act (H.R. 1).

The next Congress will surely do the same -- and this time, we'll have a President who will sign it.

But the Supreme Court will almost certainly strike it down.
The Constitution tells us what to do when the Supreme Court won't respect the will of the people.

Congress can adjust the size of the Court.

It has done so 7 times before. This is an idea with deep roots in American history.
So let's be clear about what court expansion is really about.

It's about asserting that our government answers to We, The People.

It's about holding power to account.

It's about our constitutional guarantee to democracy -- and not allowing anyone to take that from us.

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More from @MondaireJones

May 21, 2022
The final maps released today are the result of partisan politics–drawn by an out-of-state, Republican court appointee who has shown utter disregard for cultural, social, and economic communities of interest. It is designed to reduce the number of NY Democrats in Congress. 🧵
I have decided to run for another term in Congress in #NY10. This is the birthplace of the LGBTQ+ rights movement. Since long before the Stonewall Uprising, queer people of color have sought refuge within its borders.
I’m excited to make my case for why I’m the right person to lead this district forward and to continue my work in Congress to save our democracy from the threats of the far right. In my first term in Congress, I have worked hard to deliver real results for New York State.
Read 4 tweets
Aug 2, 2021
Contrary to the WH press release, in the ruling upholding the #EvictionMoratorium, only one Justice said that “congressional authorization … would be necessary for the CDC to extend the moratorium past July 31.”

Only one. Not five.

@POTUS must act now to stop the bleeding. 🧵
For those who think the Supreme Court would strike down a CDC extension of the #EvictionMoratorium anyway:

That’s a great argument to expand the Supreme Court.
The rise of the Delta variant should remind us that we are still in the midst of a generational public health crisis.

The doctors and scientists in white coats should lead our response, not five lawyers in black robes
Read 4 tweets
Jul 29, 2021
There’s been a lot of factually inaccurate talk about student debt cancellation today, so let’s clear a few things up.

President Biden has the clear authority to liberate 43 million Americans from the crushing burden of student debt. He needs to use it.

🧵🧵
The Higher Education Act gives the Secretary of Education the power to “enforce, pay, compromise, waive, or release any right, title, claim, lien, or demand, however acquired.”

In other words, it gives him the power to cancel any student debt held by the federal government.
What’s more, regulations issued by the Justice and Treasury Departments give the Secretary the clear authority “to compromise a debt, or suspend or terminate collection of a debt,” arising from a Title IV loan program. 

Title IV loans make up over 90% of student loan debt.
Read 9 tweets
Jul 13, 2021
As Texas tries to become the latest GOP-led state to drag us back into Jim Crow, all eyes will be on the President as he lays out his vision for saving democracy.

The American people are looking to @POTUS to take seriously the threat of voter suppression in this dire moment.
🧵
.@POTUS must demand federal legislative action, and call on reluctant Senators to end the filibuster and pass the For the People Act. There is no alternative.

Organizing will not save us.
Money will not save us.
The Supreme Court certainly will not save us.
If we don’t pass the For the People Act, the party of insurrection will retake the House, and Biden’s presidency will be effectively over. He won’t be able to pass meaningful legislation. He may well be impeached. The window for saving our democracy will have closed.
Read 5 tweets
Jun 6, 2021
Sen. Manchin’s op-ed on the #ForThePeopleAct is full of unsound, unserious arguments. 

Let’s unpack it.
Only Democrats are having a “debate about how to best protect our right to vote.” State Republicans are ramming through voter suppression laws along party lines. There’s no comparison.

The solution is not to unilaterally surrender. It is to undo the damage.
Not a single Democrat voted for the 15th Amendment. Did that destroy our republic?
Read 10 tweets
Apr 21, 2021
It’s not unprecedented for Congress to adjust the size of the Supreme Court to defeat white supremacy. We’ve done it three times before.

Here are some examples from our nation’s First Reconstruction. 🧵🧵
The year was 1861.

The Supreme Court was run by white supremacists who decided Dred Scott.

President Lincoln warned that if Congress didn’t check the Court, “the people will have ceased to be their own rulers.”

In 1863, Congress answered Lincoln’s call — expanding the Court.
Then in 1866, after Lincoln’s assassination, the white supremacist Andrew Johnson was President. A seat on the Court sat empty.

If Johnson filled it, the Court could have halted Reconstruction.

So Congress shrank the Court from 10 justices to 7, and Johnson never filled a seat.
Read 5 tweets

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