Democrats Reintroduce Bill to Expand U.S. Supreme Court
Democracy Alerts – Democrats Reintroduce Bill to Expand U.S. Supreme Court – Democracy Docket,
I am certain this bill will not pass in the House. In any case, it puts SCOTUS on alert as to their politics. I would like to see Congress develop a code of ethics for SCOTUS which might go further than stacking the court with more justices. Ethical behavior on the part of justices plays into how they rule in some instances. It is all in appearances.
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On Tuesday, May 16, a group of U.S. Senate and House Democrats reintroduced the Judiciary Act of 2023, a bill that would add four seats to the U.S. Supreme Court, bringing the bench from nine to 13 justices. The bill was introduced by Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). The Judiciary Act was first introduced in 2021; a press release cites the growing support for court expansion in the intervening two years.
While the Supreme Court was established by Article III of the U.S. Constitution, the size, structure and functioning of the Court was left to Congress to outline in a series of Judiciary Acts. Throughout U.S. history, there have been seven changes to the number of justices sitting on the Supreme Court, the last of which settled at nine justices in 1869 to reflect the nine circuit courts at the time. (There are now thirteen federal circuit courts.)
Today, the argument for an expanded Court has reemerged. In a press conference, Senator Markey . . . “Republicans have hijacked the confirmation process and stolen the Supreme Court majority—all to appeal to far-right judicial activists who for years have wanted to wield the gavel to roll back fundamental rights. Each scandal uncovered, each norm broken, each precedent-shattering ruling delivered is a reminder that we must restore justice and balance to the rogue, radical Supreme Court. It is time we expand the Court.”
With the current extremely narrow majorities in both houses, nothing (number of justices or ethics legislation) is going to happen.
It is pointless & foolish for Dems to do this, but perhaps motivational for the Progressive wing.
It may give hope that one day, if the electorate comes to its senses, the influence of the GOP will wane enough for moderation to be a factor in guv’mint.
The other thing that *all* must stop doing forthwith…
wearing sneakers to important meetings! (Dems & GOP alike!)
Sneakers Do Not Belong in the Oval Office
NY Times – May 19
it did not go unnoticed when, in a photograph from the Oval Office posted to President Joe Biden’s account this week, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, Senator Mitch McConnell and Representative Hakeem Jeffries were all captured wearing some variant of the dreaded footwear hybrid: the sneaker shoe. …
What we need is a reorganization of the federal judiciary, or at least something to bring the number of courts and circuits into some kind of balance with the workloads. Tying that to the number of SCOTUS justices would have the effect of rebalancing the court numbers as the amount of litigation rose (or fell). It may have made sense to have one appellate circuit for an area when its population was a fraction of today, but now they are just overworked (or understaffed). And having appeals drag on forever only helps the guilty, or the loser.