White House commission on Supreme Court reforms sees risks in expanding
court
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[October 15, 2021]
By Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A White House
commission studying potential changes to the U.S. Supreme Court said
expanding the number of justices would pose "considerable" risks and
might further politicize the court, according to preliminary draft
documents released on Thursday.
Members of the commission formed by President Joe Biden appeared more
positive about the benefits of imposing term limits and staggering
appointments out over time. But they noted it might not be possible to
make such a change without amending the U.S. Constitution.
The documents are to be used as a source of debate by members of the
commission who are holding a meeting on Friday and will prepare a report
for Biden and turn it over to him by mid-November.
Biden signed an executive order in April creating the 36-member
bipartisan commission in response to calls from the left for seats to be
added in order to counteract the 6-3 conservative majority on the
nation's highest court.
Many Democrats were angered by Republican former President Donald
Trump's success in filling three vacancies, including one that
Republicans who controlled the Senate refused to fill when Democrat
Barack Obama was president.
The commission noted that adding seats would clearly be lawful but said
that "the risks of court expansion are considerable, including that it
could undermine the very goal of some of its proponents of restoring the
court's legitimacy."
It said that "rather than calm the controversy surrounding the Supreme
Court, expansion could further degrade the confirmation process," adding
that "a future Senate could respond by refusing to confirm any nominee."
PREFERENCE FOR TERM LIMITS
While the discussion materials noted that commissioners were divided on
the merits and justification of expanding the court, they said that
advocacy groups, a cross-ideological group of Supreme Court lawyers,
academics and others preferred the idea of term limits for the justices,
who currently have lifetime appointments.
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"Among the proposals for reforming the Supreme Court, term limits
for Supreme Court Justices appear to enjoy the most widespread and
bipartisan support," one document said.
Term limits "would advance our constitution's commitments to checks
and balances and popular sovereignty" by allowing each president to
appoint two justices per four-year term. That "can enhance the
court's legitimacy in the eyes of the public" because appointments
will "appear fairer, less arbitrary and more predictable," the draft
materials said.
But the question remains how term limits can be implemented as that
might require an amendment to the Constitution. "Members of the
commission are divided about whether Congress has the power under
the Constitution to create the equivalent of term limits by
statute," one document said.
It is significantly more difficult to amend the Constitution than it
is for Congress to enact legislation.
The materials noted that the United States is "the only major
constitutional democracy in the world that has neither a retirement
age nor a fixed term of years for its high court justices."
(Reporting by Steve Holland, Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung,
Additional reporting by Mohammed Zargham; Editing by Will Dunham,
Heather Timmons and Peter Cooney)
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