Written by William E. Trachman, General Counsel, Mountain States Legal Foundation
Published September 16, 2024
The Left is once again beating the drum for “Supreme Court reform.” But regardless of method, changing the Court as a reflexive response to politically undesirable decisions would not only be bad policy, but also unconstitutional.
On July 29, President Joe Biden proposed “structural” changes, such as term limits that would force Supreme Court Justices to retire after 18 years. Vice President Kamala Harris claimed credit for helping develop the ideas. Another proposal to fundamentally alter the Supreme Court, called “court packing,” would add Justices to rebalance the court’s makeup. On July 1, Representative Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) posted on Twitter/X that “we must expand the court.” Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) posted the following day, “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: it’s time to expand the Court.”
These reactions were largely in response to two 6-3 cases decided in June: Trump v. United States and Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. The decision in the former extended immunity to the president for “official acts,” while the latter sharply curtailed the power of administrative agencies.