“Man learns from history that man doesn’t learn from history.” My father used to repeat this line to me, a saying he heard from one of his teachers.
We see the quote’s wisdom in current calls to add justices to the Supreme Court. Those calls came loudly from the political left in reaction to President Donald Trump’s appointments of Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. They have returned in the wake of the court’s just-completed term. Those justices proved crucial votes in decisions to expand religious liberty, protect gun owners and overturn Roe v. Wade.
We have been here before. In 1937, Congress voted on President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “court-packing” plan. That plan sought to add up to six justices to the nine already serving.
