We all have our ideas on what needs to be done in fixing the problems facing the Supreme Court and it’s waning trust with the majority of Americans. One of the leaders for SCOTUS reform in the Senate is Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. I replied to one of his many tweets in refereincing what’s wrong with SCOTUS.
For those of you who may be reading this from a platform that doesn’t allow you to see the tweet, I’ll post them here;
1. Age limits:
a) Max. 75 b) Min. 45
2. Code of Ethics
3. Expand the Court
Minimum, number of Judges equals the number of circuit.
Best case, 14 Associate Judges, 1 Chief Justice.
4. Chief Justice 6 year term
Age Limits
I’m not trying to be ageist here, but we have a problem on both ends of the spectrum. The minimum could also apply to all Federal Judges. The maximum would probably affect Judges decisions on when to consider retirement. However, the minimum should eliminate the problem we saw during the former guys administration of putting young, inexperienced, and unqualified people on any of the Federal benches.
Code of Ethics
What might those be? To start, how about the code used by the rest of the Federal Court system? From there we could tighten things up a bit. For instance compel recusal. How? Smarter people than I am can make those calls.
Expand the Court
This is one where many have had a multitude of ideas. One of the latest being to match the number of Circuit Courts which is 13. Thirteen is fine, but I prefer 15, I think it would be harder to pack in the future.
Chief Justice 6 year term
Why six years? Legacy.
Legacy can be good or bad. IMHO John Roberts had a long term plan in mind when he became Chief Justice, his schedule was disrupted by the Trump Administration which afforded Mitch McConnell, Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society with an opportunity they couldn’t resist. Court packing with Federalist Society loyalist. Regardless of qualifications.
The appointment could be reappointed, if the Presidential Administration in office at the end of the term so desires.
Now, here’s the tricky part. What happens? Is the Chief Justice retired? Or does the CJ become an Associate Justice and the CJ is named from among the sitting Associates? I’m for retirement if not reappointed. CJ Roberts has been CJ for 17 years and could easily be there another 20 unless he retires for whatever reasons. 37 years as Chief Justice? John Marshall served 34 years and 152 days and he served the longest of any CJ. John Roberts is no John Marshall.
I’ve listed a few, by no means do I think these are all, but they are a start. Share yours or expand upon what I’ve put forward.