WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee) today held a press conference outside the Supreme Court to discuss their opposition to expanding the number of Supreme Court justices.    

• GRAHAM: “We're not going to allow the most radical liberal movement in modern American history to destroy the Rule of Law for partisan purposes. Why do they want more justices? To make the court liberal so that when they fail at the ballot box they can get the Supreme Court to enact their agenda. That's been a liberal dream for decades, and they're willing to destroy the Rule of Law as we know it to achieve their goal.”  https://youtu.be/9OhHdHtAOV4?t=42

• GRAHAM: “I want the American people to know what the filibuster means to you. It's a tool we have as Republicans to make sure that extreme ideas, like turning the Supreme Court from nine to thirteen [justices], can't happen without Republican buy-in. It’s the check and balance on the desire to federalize the elections through H.R.1. It’s the end of making DC a state unless you can get some Republicans to agree that's a good idea.” https://youtu.be/9OhHdHtAOV4?t=174

• GRAHAM: “Conservatives care about the court. Our goal is to make sure that people on the court do not become legislators in a robe. Their goal is to add to the court judges who will do our job: creating laws, not interpreting laws. This is the biggest fight for the Rule of Law maybe since Marbury vs. Madison.” https://youtu.be/9OhHdHtAOV4?t=274

• GRAHAM: “I'm asking Senator Schumer to think about the consequences to the country. Think about the consequences to the court. And where does this end? Will there be an effort to break California into three states? If we get power back, will it be twenty Supreme Court justices? Will there be five? Packing the court was rejected by Ruth Bader Ginsburg as a bad idea. What have I learned in this whole process? How compliant the media is with this agenda. If Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, and Marsha Blackburn, when we were in charge, came up with these ideas, you would eat us alive. You can't find this in the sports page. Mitch McConnell constantly says it's never reported that Justice Breyer and [Justice] Ginsburg are against expanding the court because it destroys the court. So what are we here today to do? To tell our Democratic colleagues if you go down this road, you destroy the country and there's no going back because we'll have to push back. Every option is on the table for me.” https://youtu.be/9OhHdHtAOV4?t=940

• GRAHAM: “Mr. President: there’s some real big assaults on democracy and democratic institutions occurring on your watch, and you’re AWOL. You said it was a bonehead idea for FDR to try to pack the court, you're sitting on the sidelines while you are president forming a commission that may actually do that. The Joe Biden that was progressive but reasonable needs to emerge, because it's pretty hard for me to sit down and try to find a way to solve problems when your party is trying to destroy the country as I know it. So I would just ask that President Biden have a timeout on some of these radical ideas so that we can find some common ground. Today they're going to try to make DC a state. The Constitution created the District of Columbia for a purpose: that the place we govern ourselves, nationally, one state won't have an advantage over the other. If you're worried about people in the District of Columbia being disenfranchised, they can participate in Maryland politics. This is a power grab. Packing the court is a power grab. H.R. 1 is a power grab. The filibuster elimination is a power grab. So the Joe Biden presidency is not problem-solving thus far, it's the biggest power grab in my lifetime, and I know that the Joe Biden that I worked with all these years would not be a part of this. Something has changed. Something has changed in the Democratic Party that needs to be dealt with. The people pushing this agenda need to be toned down by their own party. There's only so much we can do. I have done that at times with my own party. I'm getting worried, nervous, and scared about the next eighteen months.” https://youtu.be/9OhHdHtAOV4?t=1645

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