re: SCOTUS question, what stops Trump (or dems when/if they retain power) from "stacking"??

I assume you mean the remaining two branches

quote:

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if the USSC gets to 6-3 or 7-2 under Trump, as soon as the DEMs hold all 3 branches i guarantee you court packing is one of the first things they go for

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The only ACTUAL bar that remains at this point is the legislative filibuster. The filibuster has been killed for executive actions (i.e., approval of nominations), but remains fully intact for legislation. This is important, because the Senate has to switch from "legislative session" to "executive session" depending on what they are voting on.

People didn't realize this during all the hullabaloo about Gorsuch, but the executive filibuster was a relatively recent phenomenon in the grand scheme of things. For almost 200 years executive branch nominations were approved on a straight up or down vote, with no invocation of cloture (which is where the filibuster comes in). It was never an issue because they were routinely approved without having to decide if the legislative filibuster should apply.

It wasn't until the mid-to-late 70s that someone decided, hey, why aren't we doing the same thing when we are in executive session deciding nominees. This may have been the Fortas vote, but I can't recall.

Anyway, now that the executive session filibuster is gone, they would have to have a supermajority to overcome the legislative filibuster in a court-packing plan.

If the Senate abolished the legislative filibuster to court-pack with a bare majority, THAT would be literally unprecedented since the Senate was formed.