Court-packing — the act of adding judges to get favorable outcomes — is a no-go for anyone who cares about protecting a republic from backsliding into totalitarianism. Venezuela, Cuba, Poland, Hungary, and El Salvador, among other nations, are cautionary tales of what happens to countries who cheat the system by filling the courts with loyalists.

And yet, Utah has just done exactly that. On January 31, Republican Governor Spencer Cox signed Senate Bill 134 into law, increasing the Supreme Court from five to seven justices.

Glenn Beck is enraged that it was Republicans — who have historically rejected court-packing as a dangerous, anti-democratic move — who pushed this through.

“Any country that has ever done this, they fall into totalitarianism because they realize they can just change the referees. They’ll just add more referees, and they’ll add the referees they like,” he says, dismissing the Utah Republicans behind this judicial move as “hypocrites.”

Utah has been having problems with its judges legislating, instead of just interpreting existing laws, as is their designated role, he explains. This issue largely stems from the fact that Utah has adopted the Missouri Plan, in which a list of suitable judicial candidates is compiled by legal experts before the governor makes his or her selection.

“Can we stop being a country run by experts? We see exactly what the experts have done in every category. Stop it,” Glenn pleads.

The real issue, he says, is massive delays and overload in lower state courts. For years, Utahns have begged for reform but to no avail. Some may perceive the state government’s decision to add judges to the Supreme Court — which “wasn’t overrun” — as a solution to their woes, but it’s really just a power grab.

“This is not about efficiency. This is all about control,” Glenn says, “and I understand you have bad judges and they’ve been legislating, but you don’t do this, Utah.”

Republicans, accustomed to controlling Utah, have grown “soft,” “mushy,” and “embarrassed that they actually believe in the Constitution,” he explains, and now that they’ve “made all these mistakes, all these compromises,” they’re doing damage control by packing the Supreme Court.

“Republicans, you don’t get a pass here because Democrats would do it too. That argument damns the republic. … A legislature that expands a court after losing cases is not defending a republic. It’s announcing, constitutional limits only apply, you know, unless they’re inconvenient,” Glenn criticizes.

The root issue of Utah’s hypocritical compromising, he argues, can be found in America’s universities, which “despise the Constitution” and are teaching America’s future judges, journalists, lawyers, and bureaucrats that Marxism is morality.

“In a state that was raised on the Constitution, you know better than this,” Glenn says to Utah Republicans.

“Why are you shrinking from conflict, as if defending principles is somehow impolite?” he asks. “It is not impolite. It is required of you to stand. A republic cannot survive this kind of shyness. … You must stand, or you will lose everything.”

To hear more, watch the video above.

Want more from Glenn Beck?

To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​The glenn beck program, Glenn beck, Utah, Utah republicans, Court packing, Judicial system, Blazetv, Blaze media, Theblaze 

Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah painted a bleak picture of the real consequences of the Somali fraud that was recently uncovered at illegitimate child-care facilities and “learing” centers in Minnesota.

During a Wednesday Senate hearing, Lee demonstrated that elites won’t have to foot the multibillion dollar bill, but rather everyday Americans.

‘This is, if anything, the tip of a tip of the iceberg.’

“You don’t put a hornet’s nest in your child’s bedroom and expect that it won’t cause problems at some point,” Lee said during the hearing. “You don’t release blank checks and allow those blank checks to be cashed at will by people who are not directly paying the bill because somebody else is, 350 million Americans who are sharing in that burden, and expect there not to be fraud.”

“Not just occasional fraud, but massive, earthshaking kinds of fraud that cause people to lose faith in the system.”

RELATED: Exclusive: Republicans pen OMAR Act, targeting lawmakers who have ‘blurred’ ethical lines

Lee noted that the extent of this rampant fraud is not merely a bug, but a feature of Democrat-run states and soft-on-crime cities. Although the fraud uncovered by journalists like Nick Shirley is staggering, Lee and his Republican colleagues noted that Minnesota is bound to be just one example of many states that have turned a blind eye to this financial abuse.

“Let’s not kid ourselves,” Lee said. “This is, if anything, the tip of a tip of the iceberg.”

RELATED: Trump offers hilarious rebuttal to Tim Walz’s absurd Civil War analogy

Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

“The federal government is $38 and a half trillion in debt,” Lee said. “When we look at the fact that we have impoverished Americans, keep in mind, when we spend this much money that we don’t have, adding to that $38 and a half trillion debt at a staggering rate approaching $2 trillion a year, what does that do?”

“I’ll give you a hint,” Lee said. “It is not the rich people who suffer.”

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

​Mike lee, Donald trump, Senate republicans, Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota fraud, Somali fraud, Somalia, Ilhan omar, Nick shirley, Politics