[bequanna]

Both political parties have endeavored to pack the courts with sympathetic judges. The conservatives got the Supreme Court majority by pure luck.

The Democrats would have done the exact same if given the opportunity and then you’d have the Right crying about how the court is “invalid”.

To change this, we should require some kind of supermajority to confirm judicial appointments at all levels.

[__derek__]

> To change this, we should require some kind of supermajority to confirm judicial appointments at all levels.

That was the de facto situation until 2013 (until 2017 for the Supreme Court).[1] The Republican SCOTUS majority became entrenched when Mitch McConnell refused to allow the Senate to consider Merrick Garland in early 2016, though. That wasn't luck.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_option#2013:_Cloture_o...

[leereeves]

No, it wasn't luck, it was a consequence of the 2014 election, in which the Republicans won net 9 Senate seats.

[hn_version_0023]

I'm sorry, did you just compare Mitch McConnell block of Supreme Court appointments through Obama's terms to... luck?

That's about as disingenuous as it comes.

[ben0x539]

> The Democrats would have done the exact same if given the opportunity

What would the Democrats be doing if they had a supreme court majority? I don't really follow US politics that closely but I got the impression that the Democrats were mostly about not rocking the boat too much?