Democrat Agenda: Pack the Supreme Court, Kill the Filibuster, Add New States, and Let Illegals Vote
Democrats have proposed a series of strategic moves that, taken together, would lock in Democratic control of the federal government: expanding the Supreme Court, eliminating the Senate filibuster, abolishing the Electoral College, admitting Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico as states, extending voting rights to illegal aliens, and federalizing election rules.
The push to expand the Supreme Court began in earnest in April 2021, when Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Representatives Jerrold Nadler, Hank Johnson, and Mondaire Jones introduced the Judiciary Act. The bill would add four seats, creating a 13-justice Supreme Court. Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress, and Joe Biden was three months into his presidency. Passage would have given Biden four appointments, turning the Court’s 6–3 conservative majority into a 7–6 majority of Democratic appointees.
The legislation was reintroduced in May 2023, with support from Senator Tina Smith and Representatives Adam Schiff and Cori Bush. Speaking outside the Court in July 2024, Markey said, “We must expand the court.” Smith explicitly linked expansion to eliminating the filibuster, calling on Congress to “reform and expand the Court” and urging Democrats to abolish the filibuster so they could pass the legislation.
Support for expansion has widened in 2026. On a podcast released October 14, former Vice President Kamala Harris said, “I believe that we need to expand the Supreme Court,” as Newsweek reported.
House Minority Whip Jim Clyburn has endorsed adding four seats, while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has said Court reform will be a priority if Democrats win both chambers in the midterms. Representative Jamie Raskin, the likely Judiciary Committee chairman if Democrats retake the House, has also backed expansion.
On September 2, House Republicans forced a vote on a constitutional amendment that would fix the Court at nine justices. The measure received 212 votes in favor and 206 against, falling short of the two-thirds majority required for passage. All but one Democrat voted against it. Representative Don Davis of North Carolina was the only Democrat to vote with Republicans.
Ending the legislative filibuster would allow a simple Senate majority to pass ordinary legislation, including Court expansion and statehood bills.