Letter to the editor: Court packing poses fundamental threat to democracy

We have three separate branches of government, which are purposed as checks and balances on one another.

Democrats in the legislative branch (made up of the House and Senate) have threatened to fundamentally change the judicial branch (Supreme Court) upon winning the executive branch (the presidency). They would do this by packing the court with additional activist judges with the “correct” ideology. Presidential candidate Joe Biden and vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris have neither confirmed nor denied their intent to pack the court, which should be a huge red flag to the American people.

This is incredibly irresponsible and dangerous rhetoric. Why? Because the Supreme Court’s purpose is to interpret law through the contextual lens of the Constitution, without political bias. This is the originalist view, which the late Justice Antonin Scalia was devoted to upholding, and the same view held by nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett.

Once the gate is opened for court packing, there will be no end in sight, because when oppositional parties win elections, they will simply continue to pack the court with more judges. Before we know it, there would be more judges than we could ever remember by name. The judicial branch was never intended to be a partisan entity.

This notion of packing the court should have all country-loving men and women on edge. It is not an acceptable option for a system designed with checks and balances. It contains dangerous undertones of fascism that every one of us should know to be wrong.

Ted Bennett
Scarborough