Democrats & Rules: Partisan Advantage Prevails

As Democrats publicly flirt with all manner of ideas about how to exercise power they have yet to attain — ranging from the believable to the nakedly partisan and self-destructive — it’s worth remembering that the American Left has never been shy about wanting to change all sorts of rules when our system of government does not serve their political interests.

There are of course the famous historical examples. Democratic dreams of filling the Supreme Court with justices sympathetic to their agenda did not begin after Donald Trump’s appointments of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the bench. FDR wanted to pack the Supreme Court after it struck down parts of his New Deal. Thankfully, leaders in both parties, including Roosevelt’s own vice president, John Nance Garner, opposed and successfully thwarted the power grab. But there are many more elaborate and recent instances of “creative” Democratic thinking that merit mentioning.

About the Author

Isaac Schorr

Isaac Schorr is an editor at Mediaite and a 2023–2024 Robert Novak Journalism Fellow at the Fund for American Studies.

Featured Tags

As Democrats publicly flirt with all manner of ideas about how to exercise power they have yet to attain — ranging from the believable to the nakedly partisan and self-destructive — it’s worth remembering that the American Left has never been shy about wanting to change all sorts of rules when our system of government does not serve their political interests.

There are of course the famous historical examples. Democratic dreams of filling the Supreme Court with justices sympathetic to their agenda did not begin after Donald Trump’s appointments of Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh to the bench. FDR wanted to pack the Supreme Court after it struck down parts of his New Deal. Thankfully, leaders in both parties, including Roosevelt’s own vice president, John Nance Garner, opposed and successfully thwarted the power grab. But there are many more elaborate and recent instances of “creative” Democratic thinking that merit mentioning.