Former GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney was ripped by conservatives on social media after she defended her previous work at USAID, which became the most prominent target of DOGE in recent days, in an exchange on X that drew the attention of DOGE’s leader, Elon Musk.

‘Damn right, @Elon,’ Cheney said on X in response to Musk, tagging an account that does not belong to Musk, on Wednesday. ‘I’m proud of what America did to win the Cold War, defeat Soviet communism, and defend democracy. Our nation stood for freedom. You may be unfamiliar with that part of our history since you weren’t yet an American citizen.’

Musk had written ‘interesting’ in response to a post from Foundation For Freedom Online Executive Director Mike Benz, who had written that Cheney was ‘spawned’ out of USAID, citing her previous position as an officer for the embattled and now seemingly shuttered agency.

Cheney spent time at USAID working within embassies related to efforts in Poland, Hungary, Russia and Ukraine.

Several conservatives on social media took issue with Cheney’s comment and defended Musk against any implication that he is ‘unfamiliar’ with U.S. history.

‘He is an American by choice instead of by birth, which is a weird thing to insult someone over, but more importantly, he didn’t commit so many crimes against the country that he had to be pardoned by Joe Biden, so he’s got that going for him,’ Federalist Editor-in-Chief Mollie Hemingway posted on X.

‘You care more about illegals coming to this country stealing from this country than @elon giving to this country,’ former Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones posted on X.

‘Ya, but he was around when your daddy was making the military industrial complex billions sending me and my buddies to die chasing the ghosts of WMDs in Iraq,’ Fox News contributor Joey Jones posted on X. 

‘Love the anti-immigrant sentiment from Liz,’ Right Turn Strategies President Chris Barron posted on X. ‘Funny how they always end up being everything they claim their opponents are.’

‘The fact Elon said a single word and was able to set you off tells me a lot, Liz,’ Twitchy.com editor Samantha Janney posted on X. ‘What’s also revealing is your connection to USAID. Damn proud of WY for firing you.’

‘What a xenophobe,’ Breitbart senior editor Joel Pollak posted on X. ‘Pure bigotry.’

‘From Liz Cheney to Barack Obama, a lot of people still don’t appreciate how much of America’s political aristocracy class grew up in USAID families,’ Benz posted on X earlier this week.

The online debate about Cheney’s time at USAID comes after Musk’s DOGE efforts have resulted in the agency being effectively shut down over what the Trump administration argues is wasteful spending. 

‘For decades, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the ridiculous — and, in many cases, malicious — pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats, with next-to-no oversight,’ the White House said Monday. 

The future of USAID remains unclear, though the doors to its headquarters were closed Monday, and thousands of employees across the globe sat waiting to hear whether they still had jobs after the apparent Musk takeover.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been named the acting director, and he agreed Monday with the White House that the agency needed an overhaul.

‘The president made me the acting administrator,’ he told Fox News. ‘I’ve delegated that power to someone who is there full time, and we’re going to go through the same process at USAID as we’re going through now at the State Department.’

Fox News Digital’s Caitlin McFall contributed to this report

President Donald Trump’s pick to serve as the next U.S. trade representative, Jamieson Greer, appeared before the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday and defended proposed tariffs from the Trump administration. 

Greer told lawmakers that the U.S. government previously raked in major funding from tariff revenues until the early 1900s, a time ‘when America truly was exploding as an international industrial powerhouse and we had a relatively high tariff rate.’

‘At the same time, we saw countries like the United Kingdom lowering their tariff rates and actually falling out of industrial competitiveness,’ Greer said to lawmakers. 

Greer also called for bolstering the U.S. manufacturing base, claiming that trade policy has major ramifications on economic and national security issues. 

‘If the United States does not have a robust manufacturing base and innovation economy, it will have little in the way of hard power to deter conflict and protect Americans,’ Greer said. ‘Trade policy can play an important role in ensuring that we have the economic security that leads to strong national security. I am convinced that we have a relatively short window of time to restructure the international trade system to better serve U.S. interests.’ 

Greer, who previously served as the chief of staff to the trade representative during Trump’s first term, played a key role in implementing tariffs during Trump’s first administration, the president said when unveiling Greer’s nomination. 

Specifically, Trump said Greer assisted with imposing tariffs on China and other nations and replacing the trade agreement with Canada and Mexico. 

A lawyer and Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps veteran with one deployment to Iraq, Greer’s role as U.S. trade representative would require him to negotiate with foreign governments on trade deals and disputes and membership of international trade bodies like the World Trade Organization. 

Greer’s confirmation hearing comes just after Trump announced he would impose new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China. 

The White House announced Friday that in response to an ‘invasion of illegal fentanyl’ to the U.S., it would impose a 25% tariff on all goods entering the United States from Mexico and Canada, a 10% tariff on Canadian energy and a 10% tariff on all goods entering the U.S. from China. 

Tariffs against China went into effect Tuesday, although Trump agreed to push back tariffs against Mexico and Canada by at least one month after discussions with each respective country about securing the border.

As a result, Democratic lawmakers pressed Greer on whether the tariffs were aimed at renegotiating trade issues or about border security. 

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said, ‘Donald Trump governs by whim and in trade that hurts American families.’ 

‘His tariff bluff created huge uncertainty that is costing American businesses and putting the global economy on what I would describe as a month to month lease,’ Wyden said. ‘Frankly, my top priority today is to figure out who the hell in the Trump administration is going to be in charge of trade, what they plan to do, and how this sort of bedlam is going to get straightened out.’

Some Republican lawmakers also voiced concerns with Trump’s tariff plans, and Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., said that agriculture communities in Montana suffered after Trump imposed tariffs in his first administration. 

Trump acknowledged on Friday the tariffs might result in ‘temporary, short-term disruption.’ But Democrats claim American taxpayers will end up hurting and paying the price. 

According to one Washington think tank, the nonpartisan Peterson Institute for International Economics, these rounds of tariffs are expected to cost U.S. households roughly $1,200 a year annually.

Fox News’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report. 

Democrats succeeded Thursday in delaying a committee vote to advance the confirmation of FBI director nominee Kash Patel until next week at least. 

The vote, which was slated to happen at 10:15 a.m. on Thursday, was pushed to next week after Senate Democrats demanded a second hearing from the Trump-aligned former Defense Department official, citing concerns about his previous remarks and candor.

In a statement Tuesday night, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa., said attempts by top Judiciary Democrat Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and others to force Patel to testify again were ‘baseless’ as he already sat before the committee for more than five hours and disclosed ‘thousands of pages’ of records to the panel, as well as nearly 150 pages of responses to lawmakers’ written questions.

At a press briefing Thursday morning, Democrats criticized Patel for both his previous actions and his remarks made on podcasts, social media and in his book, saying that in their view, Patel failed to assuage any of their concerns last week during his nearly six-hour confirmation hearing, including questions of whether he would take moves to ensure the bureau can continue to act without political interference. 

Patel, they argued, failed to directly answer their questions on this topic.

They also said Patel failed to account for his previous statements to the extent required to head up the nation’s sprawling law enforcement agency. 

‘This appointment, the head of the FBI, is one of the most serious that the Senate Judiciary Committee should consider,’ Durbin, the ranking Democrat on the committee, told reporters. 

‘Kash Patel has no business being the director of the FBI,’ Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said Thursday, noting that he asked Patel three ‘simple, direct’ questions last week about how he would lead the bureau in an independent manner if confirmed. 

‘I asked him if he understood who the FBI works for, and he answered, essentially through the Department of Justice, the White House,’ Coons said. ‘I gave him another chance to answer not who they report to, but who they work for. And he said again, the White House.’

‘I asked if he would refuse a direct order from the President to do something inappropriate, immoral or illegal,’ Coons said, ‘and he would not answer.’

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., for her part, cited her own background as a prosecutor, a job she noted involves close work with federal law enforcement. ‘That nonpartisan, independent nature’ of the Justice Department and FBI ‘is really key to all the work and the belief in our justice system,’ she said.

‘To have an FBI nominee – think about this – who is repeatedly calling the people that he is supposed to be managing corrupt is beyond belief,’ she said. ‘And I am shocked that our Republican colleagues have not signified any concern about this nominee.’

Still, Democrats face limited options to further delay Patel’s confirmation in the near-term. 

Durbin told Fox News Thursday that their aim in delaying the hearing is to raise more public awareness about Patel’s previous actions, in hopes that doing so will shore up new opposition from some Republicans in the chamber.

Ultimately, lawmakers noted they can only delay Patel’s committee vote through next week. Beyond that, they said, it is up to Republicans.

‘The president has chosen a nominee – a disappointing choice – in Kash Patel,’ Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., told reporters. ‘Now it’s up to the Senate to either confirm this nominee or not,’ he said, adding that it’s ‘clear where Senate Democrats stand.’

‘I think my biggest question is where are Senate Republicans going to stand at this important moment in history.’ Padilla continued. ‘Will they choose the rule of law? Will they choose the Constitution?’ he said, ‘Or will they choose loyalty to a reckless president?’

‘We’ll soon find out.’

In President Donald Trump’s first term in the White House, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) was rife with ‘corrruption’ as staffers were intent on ‘subverting the president’s will,’ on policy matters and sending taxpayer dollars overseas to further DEI and LGBT advocacy initiatives, a former USAID official told Fox News Digital in an interview.

‘A lot of them were beholden or had ties to the previous administration, the Obama administration, [and] the large majority of them had voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016,’ Mark Moyar, who worked in the department from 2018 to 2019, said. 

‘Now some of them did as they were told, but there was a large resistance element. And in one case, I was at a meeting, and they talked about how there was this aid going into Syria, and we needed to hide it from the White House, because we don’t want President Trump finding out about it and canceling it.’

‘They apparently just forgot I was in the room,’ he added. 

Moyar resigned from his position in July 2019 after his security clearance was suspended due to a dispute over him publishing a book – ‘Oppose Any Foe: The Rise of America’s Special Operations Forces’ before the Defense Department was able to complete a prepublication review for potentially classified information, according to a court document.

While USAID did not officially terminate his employment, Moyar said he was effectively ‘fired’ without due process. He has also alleged that the suspension of his security clearance was a form of retaliation for reporting waste, fraud and abuse within the agency.

Moyar said significant amounts of money were being spent at USAID without the knowledge of political appointees. He described a case from 2019, ‘more than halfway through the administration,’ where officials discovered a ‘big slush fund that none of his political appointees knew about.’ 

Once it was exposed, they were able to take action, but he emphasized that such issues were widespread across the agency. He also pointed to numerous conflicts of interest, where employees used their positions to benefit private businesses in which they had a stake – something he described as ‘totally illegal.’

Moyar explained that what ultimately led to getting in trouble at the department was reporting an office director who was not only using his role to assist a specific company but was also ‘the Chairman of the Board of that company.’ Despite previous reports being made about the misconduct, he said no action was taken. Instead, he said the agency ‘helped him find employment at another federal agency, the Department of Defense, so he ends up OK.’

‘Meanwhile, they come after me and try to accuse me of publishing classified information and use that as a pretext to have me fired,’ Moya said. ‘And I’m 100% sure this is fraudulent. I’ve actually sued the government to turn over the records, and still, five years later, the Department of Justice is fighting me. But it’s part of a larger pattern where the people who report the corruption are the ones who get kicked out, and the ones who are engaged in corruption thrive within the organization.’

Moyar added this is part of why such ‘radical’ changes are happening in real time at the USAID, as Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) – the government accountability unit headed by billionaire Elon Musk – effectively shut down the $40 billion agency on Monday.

The former director also detailed instances of government waste dating back to Trump’s first term, saying it;s ‘so important to get into the records of the agency’ to determine how many taxpayer dollars have been used on wasteful initiatives. 

Uncovering the full extent of DEI-related spending at USAID will take significant effort, as much of it has been ‘disguised or rebranded,’ Moyar said. He noted that while it’s clear a ‘huge amount’ has already been spent, the actual figure is likely even higher. He also criticized the push for DEI abroad, calling it not only a ‘ridiculous ideology’ but one that is actively harming U.S. relations with other countries. ‘Most other countries look at this DEI stuff and say, ‘This is crazy,’’ he said, adding that efforts to promote a ‘radical LGBTQ agenda’ overseas have sometimes been met with resistance.

‘So I think we’re going to find a great amount of waste, fraud and abuse, especially because the Inspector General, I think, has been asleep at the wheel,’ Moyar said. ‘In the weeks and months to come, we’re going to hear a lot of horror stories about how USAID has been misusing the money.’

USAID was set up in the early 1960s to act on behalf of the U.S. to deliver aid across the globe, particularly in impoverished and underdeveloped regions. The Trump administration alleges that much of the spending has been wasteful, promoting a liberal agenda around the world. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the State Department, Department of Defense and USAID for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Stephen Sorace contributed to this report. 

A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from obtaining access to certain Treasury Department payment records.

Treasury officials ‘will not provide access to any payment record or payment system of records maintained within the [Treasury] Bureau of Fiscal Service,’ Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly wrote in a temporary restraining order.

That program handles an estimated 90% of federal payments. 

The order comes after the Justice Department on Wednesday agreed in a proposed court order to limit access to the sensitive records to only two ‘special government employees’ within DOGE, who will have read-only permission. Kollar-Kotelly approved the motion in a brief order Thursday.

Several government employee unions brought suit over who could access the material as part of a government-wide evaluation of programs and systems, led by DOGE. 

The lawsuit claimed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent allowed improper access to Elon Musk’s team, potentially exposing personal financial information to unauthorized individuals. 

Under the order, only Musk ally Tom Krause, CEO of Cloud Software Group, and Marko Elez – an engineer and former Musk company employee — will continue to have access to Treasury’s Fiscal Service, but they will not be allowed to make any changes to the program. 

The order identifies both Krause and Elez as ‘Special Government Employee[s] in the Department of the Treasury.’

Panama has denied the U.S. State Department’s claim that the country will eliminate fees for U.S. government vessels transiting the Panama Canal, just one day after the State Department initially announced a deal.

The Panama Canal Authority, which is authorized to set tolls and other fees for vessels that transit the canal, said in a statement on Thursday that it has not made any adjustments to these tolls and fees. The statement added that the Panama Canal Authority ‘is ready to establish a dialogue’ with U.S. officials regarding the transit of U.S. warships.

The State Department on Wednesday announced a new deal with the government of Panama that will eliminate charge fees for U.S. government vessels.

‘The government of Panama has agreed to no longer charge fees for U.S. government vessels to transit the Panama Canal,’ the State Department wrote in an X post Wednesday night.

The new agreement would have saved the U.S. government millions of dollars a year, officials noted.

Panama President José Raúl Mulino promised on Sunday to end a key development deal with China after meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. 

During his visit, former Florida Senator Rubio wrote in a post on X that ‘the United States cannot, and will not, allow the Chinese Communist Party to continue with its effective and growing control over the Panama Canal area.’ 

President Donald Trump, who has openly criticized the six-figure premiums imposed on U.S. ships traveling through, has suggested repurchasing the canal.

It was built over decades by the U.S., but was later handed over to Panama during the Carter administration.

A newly introduced bill called the ‘Panama Canal Repurchase Act’ would give Trump and Rubio the authority to negotiate with Panama to repurchase the canal.

More than 70 percent of all vessels traveling through the canal are inbound or outbound to U.S. ports, according to the State Department. It is also a key transit point for U.S. Coast Guard and Department of Defense vessels. 

Ships would need to travel 8,000 additional miles around South America to avoid using the pathway.

Fox News Digital requested comment from the State Department, but did not immediately receive a response as of Wednesday night.

Fox News Digital’s Danielle Wallace and Stepheny Price contributed to this report.

Let us imagine that we are on an outback wilderness trip, snakes and river crossings and tent pitching, the whole thing. Our trusted guides are the social justice Democrats promising to thwart President Donald Trump.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez might not bring a canteen of water, but she will certainly have a bottle of Merlot and a selfie stick, maybe even a circle light in case it gets dark.

Rep. Ilhan Omar and her wildly progressive ilk will bring along Palestinian headscarves and leftist reading material for the campfire, while senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren will have their own fancy box lunches and blame Republicans for us not having one, too.

Then, all of a sudden, across a small creek we spy a cozy fire, and there are Democrats Sen. John Fetterman, of Pennsylvania; Rep. Ritchie Torres, of New York, and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro roasting wieners and making s’mores, tents neatly in a row. They motion us over.

But somehow, inexplicably, we stick with the lunatics. 

This is essentially where the Democratic Party, the nation’s oldest, finds itself today, led, to the extent it is led at all, by the most out-of-touch members of their caucus.

On CNN this week, Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who has a bizarre need to remind everyone she is a Black woman every 35 seconds, told Americans, in response to Trump’s popular anti-Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion measures that she is ‘tired of the white tears.’

Continuing her performative race baiting, she went on to add, ‘…the only people that are crying are the mediocre white boys that have been beaten out by people that historically have had to work so much harder.’

Not to be outdone, last week Democrat bigwigs met to choose a new chairman for the party, and at one point, the Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart – strangely part of the process — asked the candidates to raise their hand if they ‘believe that racism and misogyny played a role in Kamala Harris’ defeat?’

Every hand went up, including in the audience, to which Capehart oremarked, ‘you passed.’ Apparently, these people are still firmly convinced that Harris ran a flawless campaign and was only stymied by the unseen, nefarious forces of bigotry.

They have actually somehow persuaded themselves that the most diverse GOP coalition in our lifetimes elected Trump because they are all horrible racists. It’s absurd.

Fetterman, D-Penn., one of the few Democrats who seems to understand the actual mood of the country, is being chastised by progressives and their media allies for failing to dutifully freak out at the supposed horrors of the Trump administration.

Here is a list that MSNBC put out of the hoodie-wearing legislator’s transgressions:

Offered positive comments about Trump’s goal of acquiring Greenland
Met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago
Joined Trump’s social media platform
Endorsed a presidential pardon for Trump, calling the New York case against the Republican ‘bulls—‘
Described Trump as ‘a singular political talent’
Met with Kash Patel and seemed reassured when the GOP operative said he wouldn’t pursue the names on his enemies list if confirmed as the next FBI director
Co-sponsored the Republicans’ Laken Riley Act

All of these things are not only perfectly normal, but this is exactly the way that most voters, Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike, want our leaders to behave. Put another way, Fetterman is definitely showing up at the campsite with waterproof matches and a lantern.

Much like Fetterman, Torres and Shapiro and even New York City Mayor Eric Adams have come to realize that most Americans want compromises and sound policies from the Democrats, not a constant struggle session about the evils of Trump.

If the dimwitted Democrats double down on their increasingly unpopular addiction to identity politics, they are going to be in the political wilderness for a very long time.

Even if they hand the political expedition over to the moderates right now, they are looking at an arduous hike back to civilization.

The good news for Republicans is that the crazy, far-left wing of the Democratic Party is in no mood to hand over control. They will pound away at their drum circle, divvying up the last of trail mix, even if Fetterman and his allies offer them a crackling roasted boar with an apple in its mouth.

If the Democrats do not change, then neither will the results, and honestly, that suits Republicans just fine.

A nonpartisan election integrity watchdog has released a detailed report outlining what it says are must-needed reforms to be taken up in states across the country to ensure election integrity.

The Honest Elections Project (HEP) released its 2025 ‘Safeguarding our Elections’ report that lists over a dozen ‘critical’ measures, ranging from voter ID to cleaning up voter rolls to banning foreign influence in elections. 

‘Election integrity ballot issues passed with flying colors across the board on election night. Now that state legislative sessions are starting up, lawmakers have a duty to fulfill the mandate the American people gave to make it easy to vote and hard to cheat,’ HEP Executive Director Jason Snead told Fox News Digital.

‘Honest Elections Project’s 2025 ‘Safeguarding Our Elections’ report gives legislators a roadmap to do exactly that.’

HEP has been active in recent years advocating against foreign influence in statewide elections via dark money and various loopholes, which the report discusses in the first section and points to polling showing 78% of Americans oppose foreign funding in elections. 

‘It is illegal for foreign nationals to contribute to political candidates, but a legal loophole allows them to contribute both directly and indirectly to ballot measure campaigns,’ the report states.

‘A single left-wing group, the Sixteen Thirty Fund, has simultaneously accepted approximately $243 million from foreign billionaire Hansjörg Wyss and spent $130 million supporting or opposing ballot issue campaigns in 25 states. Ballot issues can rewrite election laws and change state Constitutions. These campaigns should not be a Trojan Horse for foreign influence, whether from activists like Wyss or hostile foreign powers like China and Russia.’

The report also warns against Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), which some states have banned but other states, including Alaska, continue to use it.

‘RCV makes it harder to vote, harder to understand election results, and harder to trust the voting process,’ the report explains.

‘Nevertheless, a small group of left-wing megadonors are pushing RCV as a way to drag politics to the left. In 2024, donors like John and Laura Arnold collectively spent $100 million on ballot measures to bring RCV to six new states. Voters rejected them all, defeating ballot issues in states as diverse as Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Oregon.’

‘Zuck Bucks’ became an increasingly controversial aspect of election security after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg poured $400 million in grants during the 2020 election to fund a variety of work and equipment. HEP’s report urges states to prevent similar instances from occurring in the future.

‘Elections should be accountable to the public, not to special interest groups and liberal megadonors,’ the report says. ‘In 2020, left-wing nonprofits pumped more than $400 million from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg into thousands of election offices, giving more money to places that ultimately voted for Joe Biden.’

Other issues in the report include, requiring transparency and robust post-election audits of election processes and procedures, ensuring that elected lawmakers write election laws, and protecting vulnerable mail ballots.

The Senate is poised to vote on whether to confirm Russell Vought to a top administration role after Democrats held a rare overnight session to oppose his nomination.

Vought was tapped by President Donald Trump to lead the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the office that helps create and manage the federal budget.

While many Trump nominees have received bipartisan support, Vought’s nomination has been controversial among Democratic lawmakers who are opposed due to his stance on the Impoundment Control Act – a 1974 law that reinforces Congress’ power of the purse. 

On Wednesday, the Senate voted to advance Vought’s nomination to a final vote on the floor, prompting a 30-hour, overnight debate period that Democrats vowed to use entirely for protest.

Democrats scheduled speakers to hold the floor throughout the entire night in an effort to delay Vought’s confirmation.

However, the Senate is likely to hold a confirmation vote for Vought on Thursday evening once the debate period ends.

‘We’re gonna do everything we can to make sure he doesn’t get confirmed,’ Sen. Gary Peters, D-Michigan, said in a video posted on X. ‘We know that Republicans have the votes, but we’re going to fight every step of the way.’

Fox News’ Diana Stacey and Julia Johnson contributed to this report.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, is reintroducing a constitutional amendment to cap the number of Supreme Court Justices at nine, amid calls to expand the court. 

Cruz, now joined by 15 cosponsors including Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy (LA), Chuck Grassley (IA), Mike Crapo (ID), Thom Tillis (NC) and John Cornyn (TX), previously introduced the amendment in 2021 and in 2023. 

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Cruz said Democrats are seeking to ‘use the Court to advance policy goals they can’t accomplish electorally.’

‘Such a move would be a direct assault on the design of our Constitution, which is designed to ensure the Supreme Court remains a non-partisan guardian of the rule of law,’ Cruz said. ‘This amendment is a badly-needed check on their efforts to undermine the integrity of the Court.’ 

Likewise, Grassley said the amendment would ensure the Court’s independence from political pressures. 

‘Democrats’ radical court packing scheme would erase the legitimacy of the Supreme Court and destroy historic precedent,’ Grassley said in a statement. ‘The Court is a co-equal branch of government, and our Keep Nine Amendment will ensure that it remains independent from political pressure.’

The nine-justice court currently has a conservative supermajority. Following various landmark decisions in recent years, including the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, Democrats have re-upped calls to impose court reforms, including expanding and packing the court as well as imposing term limits. 

In October, then-Vice President Kamala Harris entertained the notion of imposing court reforms during a CNN town hall. Harris was asked if she would support expanding the number of justices from the current nine to 12. 

‘There is no question that the American people increasingly are losing confidence in the Supreme Court and, in large part, because of the behavior of certain members of that court and because of certain rulings, including the Dobbs decision and taking away a precedent that had been in place for 50 years, protecting a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body,’ Harris said during the event.

‘So, I do believe that there should be some kind of reform of the court, and we can study what that actually looks like.’ 

Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, also called for reforming the Court that same month, saying in social media posts, ‘We need to radically reform the broken Supreme Court.’

Democrats have consistently proposed legislation to expand the Supreme Court to a 13-justice bench. 

In May 2023, Georgia Democrat Rep. Hank Johnson joined Democratic Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Tina Smith of Minnesota, and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, as well as Democratic Reps. Jerry Nadler of New York, Cori Bush of Mississippi, and Adam Schiff of California, in reintroducing the Judiciary Act of 2023.  

‘We want to prevent this kind of rot and decay from ever overtaking a Supreme Court again,’ Johnson told Fox News Digital in October.