Professor Belkin: 'There Needs to be a Political Penalty Imposed for the Theft of the Courts'

THE NATION -- San Francisco State University political scientist Aaron Belkin says growing the number of justices isn’t grounded only in a desire to exact revenge for McConnell’s shamelessness. Rather, his argument echoes a central philosophy of law enforcement — that impunity for antisocial behavior encourages more of it.

“There needs to be a political penalty imposed for the theft of the courts,” he said. “I believe that penalty should be proportionate and should nullify the effects of theft in a direct and straightforward way. So, it can’t be like, ‘You stole the courts, and now we’re going raise taxes on the wealthy in response.’ There has to be a direct connection between the penalty and the effects of the theft.”