The 19th-Century History of Court Packing

We the People

National Constitution Center

News, News Commentary, History

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 25 September 2020

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Following the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Republicans have promised to nominate a new Supreme Court Justice swiftly, before the imminent presidential election. If the Republican-led Senate confirms a new nominee either before or closely after the November election, some Democrats have said they will respond by attempting to “pack”—or add justices—to the Supreme Court. This week’s episode looks to history, particularly to the 19th century and the Civil War era, to see what lessons from historic battles over the composition of the Court might teach us today. Host Jeffrey Rosen is joined by two renowned constitutional historians —Tim Huebner of Rhodes College and Mark Graber of the University of Maryland Carey Law School. Questions or comments about the show? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, and welcome to We
0:08.0	the People, a weekly show of constitutional debate.
0:11.6	The National Constitution Center is a nonpartisan nonprofit chartered by Congress to increase
0:17.2	awareness and understanding of the Constitution among the American people. Following the passing of Justice Ginsburg,
0:25.0	Republicans have promised to nominate a new Supreme Court justice
0:29.0	before the November election.
0:31.0	Some Democrats say that if the GOP does so, they will respond by attempting to add seats to the Supreme
0:38.0	Court.
0:39.2	On this week's episode, Dear We The People listeners, let's learn from history, particularly 19th
0:44.8	century history, to see what light it can cast about past battles over the
0:50.3	composition of the Supreme Court.
0:53.0	I'm joined by two great constitutional historians of the 19th century and beyond.
0:59.5	Mark Graber is the University System of Maryland Regents Professor at the Francis King
1:04.9	Carey School of Law.
1:06.6	He's the author of many books and publications, including constitutional democracy in crisis,
1:12.9	co-written with Sanford Levenson and Mark Tushnet.
1:15.5	Mark, it is wonderful to welcome you to We The People.
1:18.7	Thank you for having me.
1:20.0	And Timothy Hubner is Irma O Sternberg, professor of history at Rhodes College in Memphis.
1:26.6	He focuses on constitutional history and is the author of Liberty and Union, the Civil War era and American constitutionalism.
1:35.0	Tim, it is wonderful to have you on the show.
1:37.5	Thank you, Jeff. I'm happy to be here.
	...

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