The President of the United States, Joe Biden, takes a first step towards a possible reform of the Supreme Court. Keeping a campaign promise, the American president signed, Friday, April 9, a decree setting up a bipartite commission to study a possible reform of the Supreme Court of the United States. The commission would have 180 days to render its findings.
The Supreme Court currently has nine magistrates appointed for life. They are appointed by the President of the United States and must be confirmed by the Senate. It is now dominated by the conservative camp, with six magistrates – including three appointed by the former Republican President, Donald Trump – against three for the progressive camp. It cuts through many social issues, such as access to abortion or the rights of sexual minorities.
The commission installed by Joe Biden will be composed of 36 members and will be co-chaired by Bob Bauer and Cristina Rodriguez, two law professors. Bob Bauer had advised Joe Biden during his campaign.
Its creation drew strong criticism from Republicans. “President Biden wants to radicalize the Supreme Court”, tweeted Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee.
President Biden wants to radicalize the Supreme Court. Your rights are at risk. https://t.co/XV0oDlRpv3
“This initiative is part of the administration’s commitment to study very carefully measures to improve federal justice”, said the White House.
Willingness to respond to Trump appointments
During the presidential campaign, candidates for the Democratic primary, including the current secretary of transport, Pete Buttigieg, had raised the possibility of increasing the number of judges sitting on the court, an assumption which bristles the Republicans.
Composed of Democratic and Republican experts, the commission will examine the most sensitive aspects of a possible reform of the Supreme Court: the term of office of its members, their number, the way in which the institution selects the cases on which it rules, its rules and its practices.
After the controversial appointments of Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett by Donald Trump, calls from the progressive camp to reform the institution have grown more ardent.
Fearing that Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s story would repeat itself if Joe Biden were replaced by a Republican after the 2024 presidential election, a group campaigning for Supreme Court reform pushes the oldest progressive judge, Stephen Breyer, 82, to resign now.
“Breyer, quit. It is time for a black woman to sit on the Supreme Court ”, could one read on a truck which circulated Friday around the court in Washington.
Tuesday the judge warned against the idea of increasing the number of judges sitting on the Supreme Court, saying that reforms perceived to be political could undermine Americans’ confidence in this institution.