Hatch warns ‘dangerous’ idea of court packing could hurt religious liberty

Former Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is warning that expanding the number of seats on the Supreme Court could adversely affect religious liberty.

Hatch, who retired from the Senate earlier this year after more than four decades, pushed back on the idea floated by some 2020 Democratic presidential hopefuls while writing an op-ed published in Utah’s Deseret News newspaper.

“The consequences of such action would be catastrophic and irreversible: The court would no longer serve as a shield against oppression but as a political weapon in the hands of an angry majority,” Hatch wrote.

“When this proposal was last en vogue in the 1930s, Democratic Sen. Burton Wheeler of Montana cautioned that it would effectively ‘extinguish (our) right of liberty, of speech, of thought, of action and of religion.’”{mosads}

Hatch tied court-packing proposals to a “flood” of litigation and legislative proposals that would “subordinate individual beliefs to the demands of government.”

Several Democratic presidential contenders have suggested adding seats to the high court to counter President Trump’s judicial appointments. Presidential candidates who have floated the idea include South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke. Former Attorney General Eric Holder has also endorsed the idea.

Progressive activists and supporters pushing for the proposal argue that it, among other potential reforms, are necessary to counteract Trump and Senate Republicans, who they argue have “packed” the judicial system with conservative judges. 

The Democratic base remains deeply bitter over a decision by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to not hold hearings or a vote on then-President Obama’s final Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, and have also pointed to Trump’s appointment of two justices to the high court: Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

Not all Democrats pursuing White House bids in 2020 have line up behind the idea, however. For example, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has expressed skepticism about the proposal, saying a future GOP president would simply continue to expand the court. 

McConnell has called court-packing an “absurd notion” from the “ash heap of history” and accused advocates of refusing to accept their loss in 2016.