Opinion/letters: Expand Supreme Court to protect rights

To protect our reproductive freedoms, we need to expand the Supreme Court.

The Judiciary Act of 2021 would add four new seats to the Supreme Court, bringing the number of justices to 13. It would help restore balance to a court that Mitch McConnell has packed with right-wing extremists who just dismantled abortion care for half the states in the country. The results for women, especially, poor women, will be devastating. With these extremists on the court,all women's and sexual/gender minority rights are in danger. We have seen that the so-called assurances of recently appointed justices about settled law are pure fabrication, so what will stop them from further erosion of the right to privacy of all Americans?

Recent polling showed that not only do a majority of Americans believe that the Supreme Court should uphold the right to abortion care, they also agree that we need to restore balance to the court and support adding additional judges to the Supreme Court.

I’m urging Congress to pass the Judiciary Act so we can create an institution that moves away from partisan stacked-deck politics and represents the interests of all Americans.

Maureen Osborne,.Orleans

Congress should use its constitutional authority to rebalance court

Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that we have to have nine Supreme Court Justices. Nor would it require a Constitutional amendment to add more seats. In fact, Congress has expanded the Supreme Court five times throughout American history.

Congress should use its constitutional authority to rebalance the Supreme Court, which has been taken over by a supermajority that holds extreme views outside of the mainstream of legal thought and out of step with most Americans. That’s why Congress must pass the Judiciary Act, which would add four seats to the Supreme Court and help stem the right-wing supermajority’s attacks on our fundamental freedoms, including the right to access abortion care.

There’s nothing stopping Congress from adding justices — except for the political will to do it, of course. In fact, recent polling showed that the majority of the American voters they represent support expanding the court. That’s why I’m urging Congress to pass the Judiciary Act of 2021 and add four seats to the Supreme Court.

Philip Rutzick, Barnstable

Expand court to protect freedoms

Right now, the right to abortion care is at risk because of a deliberate, decades-long takeover of the Supreme Court by powerful right-wing extremists. We’re seeing the culmination of this takeover as the court just overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that made abortion access a constitutional right. This opens the door for states to outlaw abortion and take us back to a time when women were forced to go through with an unwanted pregnancy, potentially endangering their health and hurting their ability to provide for their families.

But it’s possible to undo this damage. The Judiciary Act would add four seats, restoring balance to the Supreme Court. It’s the solution that recent polling showed is supported by the majority of Americans, and it’s what we need to move away from partisan rulings that dismantle our rights and freedoms. And it’s been done before. In fact, Congress has changed the size of the Supreme Court seven times already in our nation’s history. It’s time to do it again.

I’m urging Congress to pass the Judiciary Act of 2021 to ensure we protect our fundamental freedoms and restore balance to our courts now.

Laurie Defelice, Barnstable