October 15, 2021

So Biden's bipartisan commission on SCOTUS reform, in an interim report released late yesterday, puts forth a lot of bizarre reasoning. One of the things in the report? The idea that reforming the court could make justices appear to be partisan actors! Hahahahaha! Not the appearance of justices at political events, as we so recently saw. Nope.

There is a faint glimmer of hope, though. This interim statement was released after close of business yesterday, a PR move which led me to conclude there was disagreement among the three dozen members of the commission. Turns out I was right.

WASHINGTON—A commission formed by President Biden to study potential changes to the Supreme Court expressed concerns over calls to expand the size of the court, with some members warning it would “undermine, rather than enhance” its legitimacy.

"Some" members. So it's far from unanimous, and we'll find out more from the public hearing they are holding today.

Well, I for one think Supreme Court rulings should be on the basis of law, not Federalist Society propaganda. I can live with a unfavorable decision if there is actual sound reasoning and legal precedent behind it. These recent rulings are nothing but power grabs, which is why SCOTUS credibility is at a longtime low.

Something I've been screaming about for years, via Bloomberg:

“A code of conduct for the court would bring the court into line with the lower federal courts and demonstrate its dedication to an ethical culture, beyond existing statements that the justices voluntarily consult the code,” according to the documents. “The court could internally adopt a code, or Congress could externally impose a code up on the court.”

Chief Justice John Roberts has suggested he doesn’t believe Congress has constitutional authority to impose conduct rules on the Supreme Court.

There are a lot of special interests who like things exactly the way they are. It's up to us to make sure they change things anyway.

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