AMY GOODMAN: And just to say, on the issue of Lagoa, she is Cuban American. She is from the swing state of Florida. A Latinx swing state person on the Supreme Court would serve President Trump, in his eyes.
DAHLIA LITHWICK: Would serve him well in Florida. And also she's a DeSantis acolyte, so I think that that shores up Florida.
Joan Larsen is the last person, 51 years old, on the 6th Circuit. But I think he's -- Trump -- is still looking at several other very, very young women. We will know, I guess, as soon as tomorrow who he settles on.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to, finally, turn to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. On Sunday, she and the Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer went to Ruth Bader Ginsburg's high school, which is also Schumer's high school, James Madison in Brooklyn, and urged supporters to call on Senate Republicans not to vote on any Supreme Court nominee.
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ: We must use every tool at our disposal, from everyday people, especially in swing states. We need everyday people to call on senators, to call on folks on the bubble, to call Republican senators, to make sure that they hold us vacancy open. And we must also commit to using every procedural tool available to us to ensure that we buy ourselves the time necessary.
AMY GOODMAN: That's Congressmember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It's pretty rare to see her and Chuck Schumer together. They were by themselves in front of James Madison High School. But, Dahlia Lithwick, what are those things you think could be done right now for people deeply concerned about a third Trump appointment to the Supreme Court?
DAHLIA LITHWICK: I think they have to make noise, and I think that's what she was saying. I think you led with this. It's so important. It cannot be the case that Dems have won the popular vote in seven out of the eight elections from 1992 'til now, and yet the GOP has appointed 14 out of 18, now seek 15 out of 19, Supreme Court seats. It is a majority a minority-majority court, because minority-majority presidents and a minority-majority Senate keep ratifying it.
And I think what she's saying is, we have to stop behaving as though the court belongs to the Republicans. They campaign on it. They vote on it. It's a single-minded issue for them. And Democrats have tended, in the last few election cycles, to not step up, to act as though maybe we just rent seats there occasionally. The court is so profoundly misaligned both with popular opinion polling and with the will of this country. And I think the idea that you just accede to that because it's not an issue for Democrats is what is really, really going to have to change.
And so I think she's right. It means calling your senators. It means writing the op-eds, writing the letters and really, really signaling to the Senate that votes will move, votes will be lost, seats will be lost, if what is done in the next couple of weeks is allowed to go through.
AMY GOODMAN: And the possibility of a Biden administration increasing the number of justices on the court?
DAHLIA LITHWICK: Well, you heard AOC say it. I think that none of the structural court reforms that are being floated, whether it's term limits, whether it's adding seats to the lower courts and the Supreme Court, whether it's jurisdiction stripping there are a lot of really, really thoughtful ideas circulating about how we do structural court reform to kind of reverse the minority-majority rule that has absolutely taken a hold in this country. And I think what she's saying is, we can't be afraid to say there will be consequences if the court is treated as though it's Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump's plaything.
AMY GOODMAN: Dahlia Lithwick, thanks so much for being with us. And condolences to you, because this is a personal loss, as well, for you, interviewing her just before the COVID lockdown. Dahlia Lithwick, senior editor at Slate.com, senior legal correspondent and Supreme Court reporter. Her latest piece, we'll link to, "What Ruth Bader Ginsburg Would Want America to Do Now."
When we come back, we turn to one of the directors of the Oscar-nominated documentary RBG, Julie Cohen. Stay with us.
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