Democrats plot crackdown on Supreme Court

[Timber Rattler]

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2026/sep/2/democrats-meeting-monthly-plan-crackdown-supreme-court/

Democrats eyeing majorities in the House and Senate are plotting how they would police Supreme Court justices they say are influenced by right-wing, dark-money groups.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on federal courts, told attendees at the Polk County Steak Fry in Des Moines, Iowa, that he was preparing aggressive investigations and a stack of subpoenas alongside Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the House Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat.

“He and I are already working together. We are already meeting monthly to plan,” Mr. Whitehouse said.

(snip)

Mr. Whitehouse told the crowd that if he secures the Senate Judiciary Committee gavel and Mr. Raskin becomes chairman of the House Judiciary Committee — an outcome expected if Democrats win control of Congress — the justices would be their first target.

“If we’re working together, we can do twice the work, and we’re going to put a lot of attention right away into the Supreme Court,” Mr. Whitehouse said.

(snip)

Mr. Raskin has authored a package of legislation that would require justices to explain emergency rulings from the so-called shadow docket and would establish a rotating panel of federal appeals court justices to select cases for the Supreme Court.

Rep. Jim Clyburn, former House majority whip and informal senior adviser to House Democratic leaders, recently told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Democrats would add justices if they take control of Congress.

“I think that we are in a position now that calls for some significant actions taken by the Congress, and we ought to expand. And 13 is a pretty good number,” Mr. Clyburn said.

Democrats also plan to scrutinize Supreme Court justices.

Mr. Whitehouse said the House and Senate “need to do a lot of investigating” of the high court because “not enough people know the story about how the court got captured by a bunch of creepy right-wing billionaires.”

Mr. Whitehouse and Mr. Raskin said they plan to issue subpoenas, which can be blocked by a filibuster in the Senate but not in the House.

“They cannot block a Jamie Raskin House subpoena,” Mr. Whitehouse told the Steak Fry crowd.

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