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It's not that long of a shot. Manifold puts it at a 65% chance of happening, should they get a trifecta, which is not too unlikely either. It's entirely possible that I've been overstating things, but it's at least likely enough that it should be on our radar as a danger.
Yes, it is of course less likely than Trump being reelected.
I don't follow your reasoning here.
Do I read you correctly as saying that if this happens, and you win later, you can just install a slate of new justices, and there's no real harm?
If so, I disagree. The role of the federal judiciary shouldn't be a political tool, but should be to faithfully interpret the law and decide cases brought before it. I don't want yes-men on the court, I want men who will faithfully execute their constitutional office. Repeatedly expanding the court or modifying what it could do would, I imagine, tend to increase how much those present are motivated by partisanship. The Supreme Court is in the present moment the only branch that's making any real effort to hold the government to what the Constitution says. Seriously weakening that would be bad.
Sounds like you're strung up on is/ought.
The Supreme Court is an inherently political institution, therefore it is good to ensure that we cycle through members of our highest tiers of government on a regular basis to prevent too much power creep.
I don't see how I'm doing anything of the sort. Could you elaborate?
Yes and no. Yes, people's political views influence their legal opinions, and vice versa. Yes, the political process is how people get onto the court. But the court does not make decisions just based off whatever is politically expedient. Its members often consider themselves to be trying to perform a conscientiously non-political task, which influences how they decide things.
You provide no explanation.
I don't see why this would result in that, in the abstract. That isn't at all obvious to me. It's not like presidents decide to prevent their own power creep, and they're gone in at most eight years.
In the concrete case, Justice Thomas is the most limited view of what the judiciary can do, wanting to reduce its power, so removing him from the court first is not conducive to preventing power creep.
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