POLITICO NIGHTLY: Is the recession here? Three things to watch after the SVB debacle

 

View in browser   BY SUDEEP REDDY Presented by WHAT LURKS BENEATH — Seven days ago, most of the political world had never heard of Silicon Valley Bank. Most American business owners hadn’t pondered whether cash sitting idle in their bank accounts would be safe. Few elected officials had devoted even a moment to worrying about a new banking crisis. And investors were still scratching their heads over why the fastest hiking of interest rates in recent history — courtesy of the Federal Reserve and its war on persistently high inflation — had failed to dent the underlying economy and its red-hot labor market. All of that has changed. The spectacular implosion of the lender exposed vulnerabilities lurking beneath the U.S. financial system. It also put down a marker to gauge whether a long-predicted recession is finally on its way. What’s next? Here are three things to watch. 1. More regulatory scrutiny — and risk aversion Some regulators have egg on their face after the SVB debacle — amid questions about whether they should have seen it coming. The rest want to avoid the same mistake on their watch. Every responsible bank supervisor in America is spending their week scrutinizing the institutions they oversee to ensure they don’t become part of the falling dominoes. Lawmakers will hold hearings and bleary-eyed government officials will promise to get tougher in their roles after quietly executing a sweeping rescue with almost no public debate. All of that means bankers themselves — particularly at firms watching their deposits flee to bigger, too-big-to-fail competitors — will start a retreat. They’ll rein in lending bit by bit, either to correct their self-made risks or guard against more aggressive oversight. The consequences of a credit crunch could take months to show up in real economic data. But we can be sure it’s now underway. Less available credit in the economy will translate into slower investment among small and medium businesses. Roller-coaster moves in stock and bond markets — some short-term government debt this week took its largest swings since the 1987 stock market crash — will spook some larger businesses and a wider swath of investors, too. Ultimately it’ll all translate into less spending. 2. Soft landing? Hard landing? The debate ends in 2023. There’s an old adage in economics: Expansions don’t die of old age. They get murdered , usually by the Fed — to kill inflation. The past six months have been consumed by a debate about how the underlying economy would react to a pummeling by the Fed. Will it be a “soft landing ” — little damage from the rate hikes — or a “hard landing ” with real pain for American households and businesses? The suspense will end this year. The most peculiar element of the Fed’s rapid rate hikes over the past year has been the result. Consumers and businesses are holding strong in just about every sector. That’s partly due to lingering savings from the surge in government spending in the pandemic (the one that likely worsened the inflation problem). It’s also due to persistently low unemployment and strong wage growth — due in part to many employers’ desires to hoard labor after years of worker shortages. A weaker economy, due to tighter lending and reduced credit, will likely solve the Fed’s inflation problems. 3. What else could go wrong? Beware the dreaded “perfect storm.” A single week of action has managed to merge into one moment the most searing debates across 15 years of economic policy: the role of the government in rescuing private businesses, bank regulation since the 2008 crisis, the perils of low interest rates and high interest rates, the risk of key sectors (like tech and housing) gorging themselves on cheap money, the prospect of worrying about today’s economic problems over tomorrow’s threats. Other potential trouble is always lurking under the surface — whether from the war in Europe or confrontations in Asia, or some other risk few people are imagining today. An economic environment on edge from existing vulnerabilities usually doesn’t react well to new ones. Now, the job for the economy’s overseers is to ensure the bank rescues of March 2023 don’t look like the easy part. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author at sreddy@politico.com or on Twitter at @Reddy .   STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING : What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today .     WHAT'D I MISS? — Garcetti confirmed to ambassadorship despite cloud of scandal: The Senate confirmed former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s nomination to become U.S. ambassador to India, capping off months of limbo over his fate. Garcetti’s won confirmation on a 52-42 vote , with seven GOP senators supporting him and three Democrats voting no. That unusual bipartisan tally reflected the controversy that nearly unraveled Garcetti’s nomination, stemming from allegations that he was aware of — and did not act on — sexual assault and harassment accusations against his former top aide, Rick Jacobs. Garcetti has denied that he knew of the accusations against Jacobs before they became public. Wednesday’s vote came nearly two years after President Joe Biden tapped Garcetti for the post . — MAGA favorite won’t run for key Senate seat: Conservative commentator Kathy Barnette, who waged an insurgent Pennsylvania Senate campaign in 2022 that briefly panicked GOP insiders, will not make another run for that office in 2024 , she told POLITICO in an interview. Her decision will likely come as a relief to traditional Republican leaders who are trying to unite the party around Dave McCormick, a former hedge fund CEO and Bush administration official, in an effort to unseat Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) next year. — Federal board allows rail merger, amid fresh questions about safety: A federal board on Wednesday approved a proposed merger between two major freight railroads , a decision that will enable further consolidation in an industry that’s already under intense scrutiny for its safety practices. The Surface Transportation Board, an independent body that oversees the freight rail industry, has given its blessing to a merger between Canadian Pacific Railway and Kansas City Southern, narrowing the field of major North American freight railroads to just six. The two railroads are the smallest major freights operating in the U.S., and the new entity would still be the smallest of those remaining. It will be the first major rail merger in 25 years. — What does SVB’s collapse mean for other banks? Here’s what else might go wrong — and what to expect next: The sweeping results of President Joe Biden’s actions last weekend prevented multimillion-dollar losses for thousands of companies that relied on Silicon Valley Bank. But the fallout from the largest bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis is still reverberating. As regulators race to find a buyer willing to take on the bank’s domestic lending portfolio, some major companies are left scrambling to secure new lines of credit. Lobbyists are drawing battle lines as progressives in Congress push for tighter regulations. And Washington is still racing to calm investor fears of instability at other financial institutions. POLITICO’s finance and economics reporters teamed up with a banking regulation expert to answer your most pressing questions on Reddit . A message from Alibaba: Thousands of American businesses partner with Alibaba to sell their products to over 1 billion consumers in China. In fact, last year, U.S. sales to Chinese consumers on Alibaba supported 390,000 U.S. jobs, $31 billion in American wages, and added $47 billion to the U.S. GDP. Learn about Alibaba’s positive impact on the U.S. economy.   NIGHTLY ROAD TO 2024 OPPO DUMP — Former President Donald Trump’s campaign is preparing an expansive opposition research file by poring over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ record as a prosecutor, member of Congress, and governor, reports POLITICO’s Meridith McGraw. Among the items a Trump-allied group has drilled into is DeSantis’ record while serving as an assistant U.S. Attorney before running for congressional office, with plans to accuse him of being an “extremely lenient prosecutor” in cases involving, among other things, child pornography. The preparations are the latest sign of a bruising primary fight to come. GRADING DESANTIS — Former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker — once the GOP 2016 presidential frontrunner — sits down with POLITICO’s video team and offers his thoughts on potential 2024 hopeful Ron DeSantis’ performance as Florida governor . CHRISTIE TO NH — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is heading to New Hampshire later this month, sparking more 2024 speculation . The former two-term governor, who unsuccessfully ran for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, will headline a town-hall style event March 27 at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, a must-stop on the presidential campaign trail.   A message from Alibaba:     AROUND THE WORLD AMMO DEAL — The EU is finalizing a €2 billion deal to jointly restock Ukraine’s dwindling ammunition supplies while refilling countries’ stocks, according to documents obtained by POLITICO . The plan includes spending €1 billion to partially reimburse countries that can immediately donate ammunition from their own stockpiles. The countries will also work together to jointly purchase €1 billion in new ammunition — the idea being that together they can negotiate bigger contracts at a lower price-per-shell. The deal has come together rapidly in recent weeks in response to Ukraine’s pleas for more ammunition. SERBIA’S FAR RIGHT — Serbia’s ultra-nationalists are using Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to galvanize their campaign against Kosovo’s independence — and anti-war activists are getting caught in the crossfire, reports Bennet Murray for POLITICO Europe . Politicians on Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić’s right flank have sniffed out an opportunity to tie Russia’s war on Ukraine to their desire to swallow up Kosovo, even as Vučić engages in EU-brokered negotiations to partially normalize relations with Kosovo, the independence of which neither Belgrade nor Moscow recognize. A victory for Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine is a stepping stone to Serbia regaining Kosovo, according to Miša Vacić, the leader of the highly nationalistic, pro-Kremlin Serbian Right political party.   DOWNLOAD THE POLITICO MOBILE APP: Stay up to speed with the newly updated POLITICO mobile app, featuring timely political news, insights and analysis from the best journalists in the business. The sleek and navigable design offers a convenient way to access POLITICO's scoops and groundbreaking reporting. Don’t miss out on the app you can rely on for the news you need, reimagined. DOWNLOAD FOR iOS – DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID .     NIGHTLY NUMBER 180,000 The number of barrels of oil per day the massive ConocoPhillips endeavor, called the Willow project, is expected to produce at its peak inside the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. RADAR SWEEP AGGRIEVED ELITES — There’s a growing sense in America that many people — in particular the college educated and relatively financially secure — are nevertheless deeply unsatisfied with their societal status. Freddie deBoer, writing for the Substack conglomerate Persuasion , argues that this is related in part to something called “elite overproduction,” the theory that the United States is currently in a phase where we are producing more people with elite “credentials” than we have the economic opportunities to grant “elite privileges.” Read the argument here . PARTING IMAGE A message from Alibaba: Last year, U.S. businesses sold a record $66 billion in products to consumers in China on Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms, a nearly 10% increase over 2021. This included sales from thousands of American brands, big and small, such as boscia and Fender. Read how American businesses selling on Alibaba impacts the U.S. economy.   Did someone forward this email to you?  Sign up here .   Follow us on Twitter Charlie Mahtesian @PoliticoCharlie Calder McHugh @calder_mchugh Katherine Long @katherinealong Ari Hawkins @_AriHawkins   FOLLOW US

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POLITICO NIGHTLY: Hospitals don’t need ‘surge capacity’

 

View in browser   BY JOANNE KENEN Rows of beds and their letter designations are seen in a tent used for monoclonal antibody treatment of Covid-19 patients outside of St. Claire Regional Medical Center in Morehead, Ky. | Jon Cherry/Getty Images SEEKING BED REST — The latest wave of coronavirus doesn’t seem to be as bad as others we’ve endured. But people are still getting sick. And more are ending up in hospitals. So much for a restful spring and summer for our exhausted “health care heroes.” Each time this happens, one of the “pandemic lessons” that starts circulating is that we need more hospital beds, “surge capacity” for emergencies. Guess what: We don’t. The reasons are surprising and important. Nightly talked to Katherine Baicker, a leading health economist who is now dean of the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, who agreed that we need to do a whole lot of things better to prepare for the next emergency, whether it’s another bad Covid variant or something else. But having a whole lot of empty hospital beds just sitting around is not one of them. That’s because a hospital bed isn’t, as she put it, “four posts and a mattress.” A bed has a whole system around it. Medical staff. Support staff. Pricy technology. “It’s expensive to maintain buildings and beds,” Baicker said. “You don’t build a hospital, put in the beds, and lock the door until you need it. You have to be staffed up for it.” And that means that there are all sorts of incentives to fill that bed — just because it’s there. And it ends up adding expense to the health care system — without necessarily improving health. You can think of it a bit like traffic. If you build more lanes to relieve traffic jams, you often end up getting even more cars on the road. If you buy more beds in the name of “surge capacity,” you end up with more patients in them. When hospitals talk about “bed capacity” they mean the actual bed plus the medical technology and monitoring that goes with it — and that evolves quickly. “A hospital bed today doesn’t look like a hospital bed of 10 years ago,” Baicker said. The bed — including the system around it — starts to depreciate and become obsolete fast. So then there’s incentive to replace and upgrade the bed (even one that wasn’t really needed in the first place). And in addition to tech, beds need staff. That’s everything from physicians and respiratory therapists to food service and maintenance. Paying them is another incentive to fill those “surge” beds. So this cycle of adding and filling beds would add to the nation’s colossal $4 trillion of health spending — without adding to the quality of our health. In fact, doing stuff patients don’t really need done to them can harm their health (and expose them to hospital-acquired infections). Just a few days ago, the Department of Health and Human Services released a study finding that one in four Medicare patients who were hospitalized experienced some kind of harm — and a whole lot of it (43 percent) was probably preventable. And that was from 2018, before the hospitals were under the pressures of the pandemic, and the rates weren’t much better than they had been a decade earlier. Besides outright harm, hospitalization isn’t always needed anymore. The U.S. health care system has been reducing inpatient bed capacity precisely because we now have ways of treating people safely outside the hospital — which is where most people prefer to be anyway. And those who do need inpatient care generally have shorter stays than in the past, meaning fewer beds are needed. “The more beds you have, the more [patient] nights in the hospital you have,” Baicker said. And the health benefits for those are often “marginal” at best. That doesn’t mean there aren’t some specific underserved areas, including some rural communities, that need more beds. But that’s capacity — not surge capacity. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com. Or contact tonight’s author on Twitter at @JoanneKenen.   DON'T MISS DIGITAL FUTURE DAILY - OUR TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER, RE-IMAGINED:  Technology is always evolving, and our new tech-obsessed newsletter is too! Digital Future Daily unlocks the most important stories determining the future of technology, from Washington to Silicon Valley and innovation power centers around the world. Readers get an in-depth look at how the next wave of tech will reshape civic and political life, including activism, fundraising, lobbying and legislating. Go inside the minds of the biggest tech players, policymakers and regulators to learn how their decisions affect our lives. Don't miss out, subscribe today.     A medical bed is shown in a hallway at the Houston Methodist The Woodlands Hospital. | Brandon Bell/Getty Images Baicker said there are many, more important, lessons from the first two years of this pandemic — including improving public health data to respond to catastrophes, or even better, to prevent problems from becoming catastrophes. Hospitals also need to deploy their resources better — to move patients or staff or personnel around more wisely (which can also mean knocking down some regulatory barriers during an emergency). Move the sickest patients to bigger, sophisticated hospitals. In the case of the coronavirus, which comes in waves that hit different parts of the country at different times, move medical staff and resources around with more agility. Telehealth, which boomed during the pandemic, can also be put to better use within clinics and hospitals. “You can stretch capacity, you can draw on personnel and expertise from across the country and across the globe in your clinic if you have the right relationships and connectivity,” Baicker said. That can be particularly valuable in rural or underserved hospitals — while reserving capacity in the most sophisticated hospitals for patients who need more complex or specialized care, like an organ transplant. Fixing everything that needs to be fixed in our health care system to avoid the “tragic shortcomings” we’ve experienced in the past two years, all takes money. And if we put all the money in loads of new beds, she said, “there’d be no money left for anything else.” WHAT'D I MISS? — San Francisco archbishop blocks Pelosi from Communion: The archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, said Speaker Nancy Pelosi may no longer receive Holy Communion in her home diocese after repeatedly defending abortion rights over the past month. “I have determined that the point has come in which I must make a public declaration that she is not to be admitted to Holy Communion unless and until she publicly repudiate her support for abortion ‘rights’ and confess and receive absolution for her cooperation in this evil in the sacrament of Penance,” Archbishop Cordileonesaid in a letter released today — Secret Service: 2 employees on leave after ‘off-duty incident’ before Biden’s Asia trip: The U.S. Secret Service confirmed that two of its employees have been “placed on administrative leave” following an “off-duty incident” before Biden’s trip to Asia this week. Reuters reported that a member of Biden’s advance security team had been arrested in Seoul a day before Biden arrived in the South Korean capital. The report, citing local police, stated that the security team member was accused of drunkenly assaulting a South Korean citizen. — Conservatives fume over tech industry’s ‘shadow docket’ play: Progressives outraged over the use of the Supreme Court’s emergency “shadow docket” to resolve legal fights over issues like abortion and immigration got some company this week from an unexpected group — conservative skeptics of the tech industry . The tech platforms’ foes on the right are fuming about a crush of pro-Silicon Valley lawyering that has hit the high court in the past seven days, as the industry’s allies urge Justice Samuel Alito to block a Texas law that forbids social media companies from “censoring” their users. Legal briefs from groups supporting the industry have outnumbered pro-Texas briefs by 4 to 1, leaving Republicans to complain that tech is again using its wealth and muscle to overwhelm its critics. WAIT FOR IT....CRT HYSTERIA WILL RE-WRITE HISTORY!  — Florida wants to avoid critical race theory and ‘social justice’ in social studies texts: Florida’s Department of Education is explicitly aiming to keep critical race theory and “social justice” out of social studies textbooks that the state will ultimately adopt for its new teaching standards. The agency, in recent updated guidance, asked textbook publishers to avoid those topics on top of “culturally responsive teaching, social and emotional learning, and any other unsolicited theories” as the DeSantis administration and Republicans continue to scrutinize what students are learning in public schools, especially on the issues of race and gender identity. AROUND THE WORLD British Foreign Minister Liz Truss arrives for an informal meeting of NATO members states foreign ministers in Berlin. | Hannibal Hanschke-Pool/Getty Images TOUGH TALK — Washington wants “a strategic defeat of Russia” in Ukraine, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith said today, Camille Gijs and Hannah Roberts write. “We want to see a strategic defeat for Russia. We want Russia to leave Ukraine, we want Russia to stop the violence, stop these indiscriminate brutal attacks on civilians,” Smith said during the think tank-led Strategic Ark conference in Warsaw. The rhetoric against Moscow is also being ramped up on the other side of the Atlantic, with U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin “must lose in Ukraine.” Speaking on Thursday to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, in remarks that were published on Friday, she was asked about French President Emmanuel Macron’s comments on not “humiliating Putin” and whether the West should offer Putin a way out. “I don’t agree with this idea of an exit ramp. Putin must lose in Ukraine and we must see its sovereignty and territorial integrity restored, on this we are very clear,” Truss said.   STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.     NIGHTLY NUMBER 27 percent The share of Republicans who say the United States is doing “too much” to halt Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a figure that has doubled from 13 percent in a March 5-7 survey, according to Morning Consult. WE CAN THANK FOX NEWS PROPAGANDA!  PARTING WORDS CALLING MOM AND DAD — The parents of Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti have enlisted the help of prominent lobbyists to aid their son’s beleaguered nomination to serve as U.S. ambassador to India, Hailey Fuchs writes. McGuireWoods Consulting registered to lobby on behalf of Sukey and Gil Garcetti on Thursday for the purposes of “Outreach Related to Confirmation for Ambassadorship Nomination.” The lobbyists on the account include a former chief of staff to Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) Ryan Bernstein and Garcetti’s own former deputy mayor and longtime advisor, Breelyn Pete. The registration is the latest sign that Garcetti’s allies are turning over every possible stone to get his nomination across the finish line. Bernstein did not immediately return a request for comment. That nomination has floundered amid accusations that the mayor’s top aide, Rick Jacobs, had sexually assault women on the staff. Garcetti has insisted that he knew nothing of Jacobs’ conduct, which came to light because of a whistleblower report and includes allegations from his former Communications Director Naomi Seligman that Jacobs grabbed and kissed her in front of other city staffers. Did someone forward this email to you?  Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter Chris Suellentrop @suellentrop Tyler Weyant @tweyant Myah Ward @myahward   FOLLOW US

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GOP senator calls cops on peaceful Roe chalk artist SUSAN COLLINS NEEDS TO BE REPLACED!

 

It's Our Democracy!

Today’s Action: Tell Congress to expand and balance the Supreme Court!

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Today's Top Stories:

Susan Collins called the police to report 'defacement of public property' after someone wrote an abortion-rights message in chalk on a public sidewalk outside her house
The message even said "please," but the hard-hearted Republican STILL called the cops.

Take Action: Tell Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski: Losing Roe is YOUR fault — do something about it!

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VIDEO OF THE DAY: Ted Cruz humiliated himself with an insane complaint about abortion protests
The Republican Senator had the nerve to defend the January 6th mob while slandering the peaceful protestors fighting for women's rights.

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Supreme Court's bombshell Roe decision set to BACKFIRE
No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen: Wow.

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FDA says it is "doing everything in our power" to improve baby formula supply
On top of everything else, the US is grappling with a terrifying baby formula shortage as supply chain issues and product recalls leave shelves empty and babies hungry.

Take Action: Keep social media from poisoning our kids' brains!

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Republican Tom Reed resigns from Congress over sexual misconduct allegations
Reed was accused of inappropriately touching a female lobbyist in 2017. He acknowledged the incident in an apology in March of 2021 and said the incident occurred "at a time in my life in which I was struggling."

Take Action: Arrest and prosecute Trump’s criminal allies now!

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Elon Musk says he'll reverse Donald Trump Twitter ban
Tesla's headline addict claimed it was "moral wrong" for Twitter to ban the wannabe dictator who used their platform to incite a deadly insurrection to overthrow the US government.

Take Action: Tell Elon Musk not to let Trump back on Twitter!

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Senate report finds Garcetti likely knew of aide's sexual harassment and racist remarks
Accountability starts at the top — and it's critical that we demand our leaders hold their own people accountable for their toxic actions.

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WATCH how we can SAVE ROE
OD Action partner: No Dem Left Behind has the Senate lineup to codify Roe into law!

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Yearbooks on hold over photos of students protesting law limiting LGBTQ classroom instruction
So much for "free speech." School officials are stepping in to censor kids protesting Florida's appalling "Don't Say Gay" law.

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GOP holds COVID-19 funding hostage in order to keep Trump's racist "Title 42" immigration policy
COVID-19 hasn't gone anywhere, but the money needed to fund testing and vaccinations has run out. The so-called "pro-life" party is holding that money hostage in order to inflict suffering on innocent immigrants.

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El Salvadoran woman receives 30 years in prison after losing her unborn baby in medical emergency
This is the grim future we face here in America if Republicans get their way.

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Pennsylvania GOP panics over possible Mastriano nomination
The ascension of hardcore insurrectionist and Big Lie proponent Doug Mastriano to the head of the GOP PA primary field spells big trouble for them in November.

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More like Elon Bust, am I right folks

Tesla recalls nearly 130K vehicles due to overheating infotainment system

Tesla stock down 31% since Elon Musk said he’s buying Twitter

Elon Musk says he will hand Twitter over to YouTube star MrBeast if he ‘dies’

Musk's $44-billion Twitter deal at risk of being repriced lower

Crash of the tokens

Bitcoin investors are panicking as a controversial crypto experiment unravels

Coinbase crypto exchange shares plunge almost 80% from November high, amid selloffs of crypto stocks and funds

CryptoPunk NFT bought for $1 million sells for $139,000 just 6 months later

Bitcoin hits 10 month low as wild sell-off continues

El Salvador expected to default as its Bitcoin assets collapse in value

Hope...

House Democrats’ campaign arm forms largest union in Democratic Party

New images show monstrous "claw marks" on the surface of Mars

Microsoft to help cover U.S. employees' travel costs for abortion

Senate approves Lisa Cook as first Black woman to Fed post

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Today’s Action: Tell Congress to expand and balance the Supreme Court!

With the recently leaked draft of the SCOTUS majority opinion set to gut Roe v. Wade, the fate of women’s reproductive rights in the United States is hanging by a fraying thread. Not so fun facts: five of the six conservative justices currently sitting on the Supreme Court were a) appointed by presidents who lost the popular vote when they first took office and b) confirmed by some of the slimmest Senate margins in US history. And that’s arguably not even the worst part.

In 2016, Republicans stonewalled then-President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee for 293 days, refusing to hold hearings, and ultimately gifting the open seat to Trump in early 2017. Four years later, in the waning days of the 2020 election, Republicans jammed through a deeply unpopular Supreme Court justice in a historically short period of time. They succeeded by ignoring their own voters' opinions, their own precedent, and their own committee rules — to the detriment of all other legislative needs, including pandemic relief. A court that should be a 5-4 left-leaning majority is now one completely unrepresentative of America. 

Call (202-224-3121) or write your members of Congress and demand they support the expansion of the Supreme Court!

Changing the number of justices has precedent, would allow for more accurate representation, and is more necessary than ever. It’s not just abortion rights at risk if Roe v. Wade is successfully overturned. Part of Justice Alito’s ridiculous argument against protecting the right to abortion is that the right to privacy is not explicitly stated in the Constitution. This myopic, originalist argument would clear the way for multiple other precedents to be unraveled — same-sex intimacy, same-sex marriage, access to contraceptive care, and more. 

It doesn’t stop at the judicial level. Conservatives across the country, emboldened by a radically imbalanced court, are systematically disenfranchising millions of voters and criminalizing abortion seekers. Expanding the court means protecting the voices of marginalized communities across the country. 

Call (202-224-3121) or write your members of Congress and demand they restore balance and representation to the Supreme Court by expanding its numbers!

PS — Please don't forget to sign the petition demand Congress stop Tennessee from banning abortion pills by mail, and be sure to follow OD Action on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.