Some of the headlines from conservative news outlets today were concerning. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said she would not bring a court-packing bill to the House floor, at which point we saw strange headlines from right-leaning sites. One said she “…Breaks with Nadler…” by not pushing forward. Another claimed she “…Nukes Nadler’s Court-Packing Bill.” One of my least favorites claimed she “…Puts Kibosh On Democrat Court Packing Plan.” The worst so far said “Americans Breathe Sigh of Relief…” following her statement.
All of these headlines comes from sites that I like a lot. But on this issue, all of them are wrong.
The misunderstanding came from her quick response to the question of bringing the court-packing bill to the House floor. Her answer was simply, “No.” She later noted, “I have no plans to bring it to the floor.”
This is not a time to breathe a sigh of relief given what we know about Pelosi. Lest we forget, she was adamant against impeachment until she wasn’t. She has built her career on taking the “tough” path with her leadership by supposedly going against the wishes of many in her caucus, but invariably she pushes forward with the plans. This is her standard operating procedure. It’s a clever political move that allows her to explain to the American people why she supposedly changed her mind.
If she were to support this or any move up front, it declaws her future plea to the American people. By saying she’s opposed to it now, she will get much more attention when she “reverses” her position later, and people will want to know why. The answer has been and always will be the same. She will claim reluctance to such a big move, whether it’s impeachment or court-packing or whatever unpopular stance is on the table. Then, she “reverses” and makes a big spectacle about new information or changing circumstances that prompted her change of heart.
She telegraphed this move during the press conference today. Here are some of her quotes as reported by the NY Post:
“I support the president’s commission to study a such a proposal,” she continued, going on to say that she and her members were focused on President Biden’s infrastructure package and not the federal judiciary.
“I don’t know that that’s a good idea or bad idea. I think it’s an idea that to be considered. And I think the president’s taking the right approach to, to have a commission to study such a thing,” the top-ranking House Democrat said, calling Biden’s move itself “a big step.”
“It’s not out of the question, it has been done before,” she went on to say, noting that “the history of our country a long time ago, and the growth of our country, the size of our country, the growth of our challenges in terms of the economy, etc. might necessitate such a thing.”
These are not the words of a person who is against a particular bill. They’re the words of someone who has spent a lifetime manipulating Congress, mainstream media, and the people. She knows the easiest way to sell something to the widest range of people is by supposedly reversing her decision and being given a platform to explain why she’s doing it.
The timing isn’t right. Democrats need the filibuster out of the way before they can engage in truly significant radical legislation. Right now, they’re plotting to bring forth some form of legislation that’s popular enough to convince the people—not to mention Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema—that they need to bust the filibuster in order to save the nation. That could be gun control if they can get enough mass shootings in the news at the same time. It could be the infrastructure bill if they choose not to push it through reconciliation. It could be something we’re not seeing yet.
Once they remove the filibuster, they’ll push the voter-fraud bill known as H.R. 1. They’ll push other major pieces of legislation that couldn’t get around the filibuster. And then, they’ll push the court-packing bill.
Pelosi is not truly opposed to court-packing. She’s simply biding her time for the proper moment to “reverse” her decision and get it passed. She is conniving, but she’s running off her old playbook. We see exactly what she’s doing.
