Elizabeth Warren wants to expand Supreme Court by four seats, says it has been 'hijacked, politicized, and delegitimized by Republicans'

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is calling on Congress to expand the Supreme Court by four seats. Warren claims that an expansion of the highest court in the land is necessary because it currently "leans into extremism."

On Wednesday, Warren tweeted, "Republicans have hijacked America’s Supreme Court to threaten basic liberties, settled law, and the very foundations of our democracy. There’s only one way to rebalance this broken institution and restore its integrity: We must #ExpandTheCourt."

The liberal senator from Massachusetts is especially concerned over the recent report that conservative Supreme Court justices have signaled that they could roll back the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision on abortion rights.

"Republicans steal power to ram through an extremist, unpopular agenda. Basic protections like Roev. Wade, supported by 70 percent of Americans, are hanging by a thread," Warren said in the video. "And that's just the tip of the iceberg."

Warren called the Supreme Court "radical," and claimed it "opened floodgates for corporations to spend unlimited sums of money to buy our elections."

She alleged, "This is not a court that represents the will of the people."

"The only real solution now is to expand the Supreme Court," Warren asserted, calling to increase the total number of justices from nine to 13.

On the same day, Warren wrote an op-ed in the Boston Globe titled: "Expand the Supreme Court."

"I don’t come to this conclusion lightly or because I disagree with a particular decision; I come to this conclusion because I believe the current court threatens the democratic foundations of our nation," Warren wrote of the Supreme Court that currently has a conservative majority of 6-3.

Warren alleged the Supreme Court has "threatened, or outright dismantled, fundamental rights in this country," and described it as an "extremist court."

"This court leans into extremism and partisanship," she said, "Without reform, the court’s 6-3 conservative supermajority will continue to threaten basic liberties for decades to come."

Warren alleged that if the Supreme Court isn't altered, it could "eviscerate the federal government’s abilities to fight climate change."

She opined, "But conservative justices’ recent decisions and their apparent appetite to overturn decades of precedent underscore one important truth: This court’s lawlessness is a powerful threat to our democracy and our country."

"Adding seats to the Supreme Court may be one of the few ways to deescalate the arms race around the court," Warren wrote.

Warren attempts to justify packing the court by saying that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) "hijacked America’s Supreme Court" by denying "even a hearing to President Obama’s highly qualified nominee," in Merrick Garland.

"Four years later, [McConnell] reached new heights of hypocrisy when he reversed direction — breaking his own ‘rule’ barring votes on justices in an election year — to ram through the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett only days before President Biden’s election," she continued. "This Republican court-packing has undermined the legitimacy of every action the current court takes."

In an interview with the Nation, Warren argued that if the Supreme Court is not expanded, it only "emboldens people like McConnell to do even worse."

"Mitch McConnell should not be allowed to steal one seat, and then force through another, so that he created a conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court," Warren said. "That just emboldens people like McConnell to do even worse. To do even more damage."

"Inaction will not restore the court to its badly needed credibility. It will take change," she added. "That’s why we need to appoint more justices.

Warren announced she would be a cosponsor of the Judiciary Act of 2021, which would "restore balance, integrity, and independence to the extremist Court that has been hijacked, politicized, and delegitimized by Republicans."

Warren supports the court-packing bill that Democrats introduced in April that would add four seats to the Supreme Court. Warren would be only the third Senator to back the bill – joining Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Tina Smith (D-Minn.).