Newsom pours water on Supreme Court expansion but favors filibuster reform

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), a leading party figure and potential future candidate for president, on Thursday dismissed calls to expand the Supreme Court, which are gaining traction with other Democratic officeholders.  

“No, because my kids are going to live with a Supreme Court that’s larger than Congress,” he said, predicting that if Democrats expand the high court from nine to 13 justices to balance out conservatives, Republicans will retaliate with a similar tactic when they return to power.  

Three Democratic senators have sponsored a bill to expand the size of the Supreme Court, and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) hasn’t ruled out considering it on the floor at some point in the future, though right now Democrats couldn’t get it past a Republican filibuster.  

But Newsom, who visited Capitol Hill on Thursday, said he is open to reforming the Senate’s filibuster rule, which has allowed Republicans to bring President Biden’s agenda to a grinding halt.  

“Filibuster’s a whole different thing,” he said. “There’s a prospect there.”  

Newsom noted that the filibuster has already been eliminated for budget reconciliation bills as well as nominees to the federal judiciary and executive branch.  

“This is hardly novel, this is hardly revolutionary or revelatory,” he said.

“Fundamentally this notion of the tyranny of the minority … at a certain point, this dysfunction cannot last,” he continued, alluding to the difficulty of getting bills passed through Congress because of the 60-vote hurdle for most legislation in the Senate.  

“At a certain point this thing called government is just ineffective, inefficient and incapable of adjusting to the needs of the American people without having some forcing effect to actually get something done,” he said.  

Newsom made his comments moments after Republican Sen. James Lankford (Okla.) blocked a Democratic request to pass by unanimous consent a bill to protect traveling across state lines to get an abortion.  

Senate Democrats have been repeatedly stymied this Congress by Republican filibusters, most prominently in their attempt to pass legislation to protect access to the ballot box for minority voters.  

Republicans argued the Democrats’ voting rights legislation was a federal takeover of elections, which they say should be left for the states to administer.