Proposal for SCOTUS reform

The legislation by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is one of the most ambitious proposals to remake a high court.

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He said he hopes to get parts of the bill passed, even if the whole package is not embraced by lawmakers.

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The bill’s most significant measure would increase the number of justices from nine to 15 over the course of 12 years. The staggered format over two or three administrations is aimed at diminishing the chance that one political party would pack the courts with its nominees.

During the rollout, each president would approve justices in the first and third year of their terms.

The bill would also require a ruling by two-thirds of the high court and the circuit courts of appeals, rather than a simple majority, to overturn a law passed by Congress.

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The legislation would also require Supreme Court nominees to be automatically scheduled for a vote in the Senate if their nominations have lingered in committee for more than 180 days.

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Another provision in Wyden’s bill would expand the number of federal judicial circuits from 13 to 15, adding more than 100 district court judges and more than 60 appellate-level judges.

Supreme Court justices must report income, dividends, property sales and gifts, among other things, but the bill would bolster financial checks, disclosures and other transparency measures. It would require the IRS to initiate an audit of the justices’ tax returns each year, release the results and make the tax filings public. Nominees to the court would have to disclose three years of tax returns.

Another measure would allow a two-thirds vote of the court to force a fellow justice to recuse from a case.

Each justice would be required to publicly release their opinions and disclose how they voted on issues considered on an emergency basis, sometimes referred to as the shadow docket.

  WaPo

Do it.

Other bills introduced by Democrats recently would add teeth to the Supreme Court’s ethics code, which has been widely criticized for lacking an enforcement mechanism. Another would cap gifts justices can receive at $50, the same limit members of Congress must abide by. Others would establish 18-year term limits for justices and try to drain politics from nominations to the high court.

Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) reintroduced a bill Wednesday that would give Congress greater latitude to check Supreme Court rulings.

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Wyden’s bill, like others introduced by Democrats to bring changes to the Supreme Court, faces long odds of passing. Republicans, who control the House, say the bills aren’t about reform but politics.

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Liberal Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson have said publicly they support a binding ethics code, but Gorsuch has expressed skepticism. The other justices have not made their opinions known.

They don't have to. I think we can surmise.

A Gallup opinion poll from July showed public approval of the Supreme Court at near-record lows, with only 43 percent of Americans approving and 53 percent disapproving.

Polls have found that there is significant support for some Supreme Court overhauls. A USA Today/Ipsos poll from August found that 75 percent of Americans supported a binding ethics code for justices and that 61 percent supported 18-year time limits. The poll found that only 40 percent approved of expanding the court from nine to 15 justices.