One of the main benefits is that it waters down the influence of hyper-activist judges, even if the court does end up split. It allows for a window in which reform can occur without interference by the court the way we see now.
But more importantly, expansion would be part of a multipart strategy that would need to be implemented in order to disrupt grip on the levers of power that conservatives have accomplished through manipulation of math. The other parts of that strategy, described fairly concisely by Aaron Belkin, would be getting rid of the filibuster, grant statehood to Puerto Rico and DC to expand the voter pool, and using the above window provided by court packing to introduce aggressive anti-voter suppression and anti-gerrymandering legislation.
I don’t think court expansion in and of itself solves everything, it’s more that it’s one of the main legal tools that an administration has to exert a check on the courts. It needs to be combined with other efforts to produce results.
One of the main benefits is that it waters down the influence of hyper-activist judges, even if the court does end up split. It allows for a window in which reform can occur without interference by the court the way we see now.
But more importantly, expansion would be part of a multipart strategy that would need to be implemented in order to disrupt grip on the levers of power that conservatives have accomplished through manipulation of math. The other parts of that strategy, described fairly concisely by Aaron Belkin, would be getting rid of the filibuster, grant statehood to Puerto Rico and DC to expand the voter pool, and using the above window provided by court packing to introduce aggressive anti-voter suppression and anti-gerrymandering legislation.
I don’t think court expansion in and of itself solves everything, it’s more that it’s one of the main legal tools that an administration has to exert a check on the courts. It needs to be combined with other efforts to produce results.