Back in high-school civics we all learned that the federal government resembles a three-legged stool: Congress (the legislative branch) writes the laws, the President (executive branch) carries them out, and the Supreme Court (judicial branch) interprets what those laws mean when real-world disputes arise. Each leg checks and balances the others: Congress can override a presidential veto; the President can veto legislation or refuse to enforce unconstitutional statutes; the Court can strike down laws or executive actions that violate the Constitution. The genius of the founders was to give the judiciary neither “the purse” nor “the sword,” only judgment. That makes the Court the most vulnerable branch—its authority rests on the public’s belief that its nine lifetime justices render decisions based on law, not on partisan whim. Undermine that faith, and the whole stool wobbles.
WHO ARE THE NINE?
Below is a refresher on today’s Supreme Court, the presidents who nominated each justice, the political headwinds they faced in the Senate, and the interpretive philosophies that now shape their votes.
| Justice | Nominating President / Year | Confirmation fireworks & memorable quote | Philosophical lens & voting record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. | GW Bush 2005 | Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA): “I can imagine few things worse for our seniors … than to place someone on the Court who could roll back civil-rights gains.” | Cautious institutionalist |
| Clarence Thomas | GHW Bush 1991 | Thomas blasted the Anita Hill harassment allegations as a “high-tech lynching for uppity Blacks.” | Originalist anchor of the Court |
| Samuel A. Alito Jr. | GW Bush 2006 | Sen. John Kerry (D-MA): Alito is “a divisive justice in the mold of Antonin Scalia.” | Staunch originalist |
| Neil M. Gorsuch | D. Trump 2017 | Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) on the “frozen-trucker” case: “I know absurdity when I see it, and this makes me question your judgment.” | Textualist with a libertarian streak |
| Brett M. Kavanaugh | D. Trump 2018 | Sen. Feinstein (D-CA) called for an FBI probe of high school rape claims. | Incrementalist conservative |
| Amy Coney Barrett | D. Trump 2020 | Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) earlier warned: “The dogma lives loudly within you.” | Self-described originalist |
| Sonia Sotomayor | B. Obama 2009 | Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) grilled her “wise Latina” remark questioning impartiality. | Progressive pragmatist |
| Elena Kagan | B. Obama 2010 | Sessions accused her of giving the Pentagon “the runaround” over military recruiting at Harvard. | Institutional liberal |
| Ketanji Brown Jackson | J. Biden 2022 | Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN): “Can you define the word woman?” – Jackson: “I’m not a biologist.” | Progressive textualist |
THE PLAYBOOK TO DISCREDIT THE COURT (Drawing on Saving Nine)
Sen. Mike Lee’s bestseller Saving Nine chronicles past and present campaigns to hobble the judiciary. He distills a modern six-part playbook:
- Resize the Court (Court-Packing)
The Judiciary Act of 2021 would add four seats, giving a future Democratic president an instant 7-6 majority. Sponsors Rep. Nadler (D-NY) and Sen. Markey (D-MA) pitched it as “restoring balance” after Trump’s three appointments. Lee warns that FDR’s 1937 scheme—“the switch in time that saved nine”—shows how even a failed threat can warp judicial independence. - Delegitimize Decisions by Branding the Court “Illegitimate“
Progressive activists now reflexively label 6-3 rulings “anti-democratic” and demand term limits whenever a conservative majority prevails. The Biden-appointed Presidential Commission openly noted “profound disagreement” on expansion but kept the option alive. - Intimidation & Protests at Private Residences
After the May 2022 leak of the Dobbs draft, protesters marched outside the homes of Justices Alito, Thomas, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett—despite federal law (18 U.S.C. § 1507) forbidding demonstrations meant to influence judges. Attorney General Garland largely stood down. A would-be assassin was arrested near Kavanaugh’s house. - Character Assassination During Confirmations
High-tech lynching (Thomas, 1991) and #MeToo furor (Kavanaugh, 2018) exemplify personal attacks calculated to cow future nominees into ideological conformity and to signal that conservative jurisprudence earns reputational ruin. - Ethics-Gate—Inflate Minor (or Dubious) Gifts into Constitutional Crises
Recent ProPublica stories on Justice Thomas’s yacht trips and Justice Alito’s Alaska fishing lodge fueled calls for a congressional code of conduct—even though Congress exempted itself from parallel rules. Under pressure, the Court adopted a first-ever ethics code in 2023, yet critics still seek outside enforcement. - Leak & Pressure
The unprecedented disclosure of the Dobbs draft opinion was more than a scoop—it signaled that hostile insiders will weaponize confidentiality if outcomes diverge from progressive expectations. Eight months of investigation failed to name the culprit, breeding further mistrust.
CASE STUDY: BIDEN-ERA FLASHPOINTS
| Date | Event | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Apr 9 2021 | President Biden forms a 36-member Commission to study “reforms,” from expansion to term limits. | First official normalization of court-packing since 1937. Even without a recommendation, the mere study chilled judicial independence. |
| Apr 15 2021 | Judiciary Act introduced (Nadler/Markey). | Would immediately let Biden appoint four justices, recreating a quasi-House of Representatives on the bench. |
| May 2 2022 | Dobbs draft leaks to Politico. | Breach of internal deliberations; Chief Justice Roberts decried it as “egregious betrayal.” Prompted waves of illegal protests at homes. |
| May-Jun 2022 | Home demonstrations & attempted assassination of Justice Kavanaugh. | Federal law unenforced; chilling signal that conservative votes have personal security costs. |
| 2023 | ProPublica gift-travel series; Senate Judiciary Democrats threaten subpoenas. | Public confidence plunges to record 25 %. Ethics code eventually adopted, but activists press for enforceable sanctions. |
| Present | Renewed push for 18-year term limits and jurisdiction-stripping bills. | Would guarantee each president two appointments per term, transforming the Court into a political spoil. |
WHY COURT-PACKING COULD HIT YOUR PAYCHECK AND FIREARMS COLLECTION
Mike Lee’s warning is not ivory-tower angst. If any future majority can add seats until it wins, both parties will escalate. Imagine every two-year election flipping the Court 11-6, then 15-8, then 21-10. Businesses would freeze long-term investment; religious freedom rulings would swing like a pendulum; gun-rights precedents would be here today, gone tomorrow. The very idea of a written Constitution—law that outlives elections—would collapse. As Justice Scalia quipped, “Structure is everything.”
For conservatives who cherish the Second Amendment, an expanded Court could revive bans the current majority just struck down. For progressives, the next conservative Congress could add six more seats and erase Obergefell or Bostock. Court-packing is a political doomsday machine with no “off” switch.
HOW THE LEFT’S NARRATIVE HAS SHIFTED
- From “Bonehead Idea” to “Necessary for Democracy” Joe Biden in 1983 called court-packing a “bonehead idea.” Today he refuses to rule it out.
- From Merit to Identity + Ideology Activists demand “representation” by race, sexuality, or lived experience—but only if doctrinally progressive. The moment a conservative Hispanic (Miguel Estrada) or Catholic woman (Barrett) is nominated, representation counts for nothing.
- From Rule-of-Law to Results-Oriented Jurisprudence Decisions like Bruen or Students for Fair Admissions are blasted as illegitimate not for faulty reasoning but because the outcomes offend progressive policy goals.
RESPONSES ROOTED IN THE CONSTITUTION
- Know the History FDR’s threat alone coerced a constitutional “switch.” Read Chapters 4-6 of Saving Nine for the blow-by-blow.
- Defend 18 U.S.C. § 1507 Congress wrote the anti-picketing statute; DOJ must enforce it impartially. Contact your representative.
- Demand Equal Ethics Scrutiny If Justices must disclose every book gift, so should Senators—78 % of whom accept comparable perks.
- Teach Civics Again A generation that thinks the Court is “just another legislature” will cheer expansion. Churches, homeschool co-ops, and public schools alike should revisit Federalist 78.
- Reject Result-First Rhetoric When SCOTUS hands down an opinion you dislike, ask why the majority said the Constitution compels it; persuasion beats intimidation.
CONCLUSION – SAVING NINE MEANS SAVING SELF-GOVERNMENT
America’s founders expected factions; they did not expect every election to rewrite the arbiter of the rules.
For two centuries the size of the Court—nine—is one of the few constitutional guardrails both parties left untouched. The current assault, detailed by Sen. Mike Lee, by leaked drafts, by illegal protests, and by “ethics” hit-jobs, is unprecedented not because it criticizes outcomes (that’s healthy) but because it seeks to change the rules of the game mid-match.
Obviously, the Democrats would time the addition of the extra justices during a Democrat administration.
Guarding those old rules is neither partisan nor optional. It is the only way the three-legged stool stays level, providing a seat of justice sturdy enough for conservatives, progressives, and everyone in between. Saving nine, in other words, is saving the republic.
S.D.G.,
Robert Sparkman
christiannewsjunkie@gmail.com
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Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) is the author of a book titled Saving Nine: The Fight Against the Left’s Audacious Plan to Pack the Supreme Court and Destroy American Liberty. It covers the efforts of the Left to disempower the Supreme Court.
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