The Most Likely Avenue for Supreme Court Reform: Supreme Court reform is all the rage among Democratic leaders in Washington. For decades, with few if notable exceptions, these politicians stood mutely impotent in the face of ultraconservative Republican-appointed justices incinerating hard-won, long-entrenched constitutional and statutory foundations of liberal governance. At last, it appears that they have taken note of the destruction. What’s more, they have decided that a package of enactments to reform the court is their answer.
That liberal leaders have woken up to the need to do something is a good thing, however long in coming. But whether proposing legislation under the banner of “reform” is the right thing is another question. Indeed, the abrupt conversion of ordinarily cautious figures like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to unspecified “dramatic” reform could be a diversion, hoisted to persuade frustrated constituents that their leaders are finally up for the transformative change they crave—all while those leaders still shrink from tackling the essential turnabout prerequisite to any viable strategy for regaining traction in the ongoing war over the Constitution and the courts.
That prerequisite—what Dems and liberals need, first, last, and foremost—is a politically marketable vision of how the actions and agenda of this rogue band of justices has sabotaged the material interests and aspirations of middle- and working-class American families and individuals. Moreover, the illumination of how the agenda of the conservative bloc unlawfully flouts prized statutory and constitutional safeguards—and how its warped vision conflicts with the designs of the Framers who crafted those laws and provisions—is paramount.
Without that undergirding, any reform proposals Democrat leaders assemble will be dismissed—including by many Democratic constituents—as a partisan gimmick. If that perception takes hold, the Supreme Court reform boomlet will likely lose political momentum and fizzle out entirely.
Earlier, I wrote that the right-wing justices will be wary of reform proposals and… https://newrepublic.com/article/215719/ethics-code-supreme-court-reform