Improving SCOTUS

October 28, 2020

The United States Supreme Court has become politicized. This is not good, the Founding Fathers did not intended for the Court to be political, they wanted the Justices not to influenced by elections and needing to curry favor with politicians to get on the court. But the system they designed has broken down. In 2016, Senate Republicans refused to even consider President Obama's last Supreme Court nominee because the Primary process had already started and that over 6 months out from the election was too close to the election. In 2020, Ruth Bader Ginsberg died about a month out from the election and those same Senate Republicans pushed through Presidents Trump's nominee Amy Coney Barrett.

Senate Democrats rightly called out the Senate Republicans hypocrisy. This was clearly a power move by Senate Republicans only because they hold the majority and are aware of the possibility that Trump will not only lose in 2020, but that they may also loose the majority in the Senate. It should also be noted there were indicators that Senate Republicans were willing to never consider a Supreme Court nominee if Hillary Clinton had won and keep the Court at 8 justices, which easily could have gone down to 6 by the 2020 Election, given 2 vacancies opened when Trump was in office.

May Democrats have stated they are willing to add seats to the Court in response to the actions of the Senate Republicans. Some Democrats are opposed; former Vice President Joe Biden who is running for President has said that he is not in favor of court packing due to the precedent it sets, but he has said that he has not ruled it out. The most recently statement by Biden supports the forming a bi-partisan commission to look at the Court and make recommendations on reforms and other actions.

I personally think that Biden has taken the best strategy when it comes to the court. It does not rule out anything, including court packing and even constitutional amendment. My opinion on court packing is this, if the Democrats gain control of the Senate and they decide to add seats to the court, they should only at 2 seats for a total of 11 seats. While this would still give conservatives a 6-5 advantage in the court, it would not be seen as a power grab by the People. It restores the "balance" of power on the court. Its basically informal practice for the court to be 5-4 between conservative and liberals, with which group having the advantage to be the party of the President or Congress.

However, I think the best way to improve the Supreme Court is to draft a Constitutional Amendment to do a complete overhaul and reform of the Court. Proposals I would like to see are:

• Replace lifetime appointments with a single term of 20 years.
• This would give the court a higher turnover, but still isolate them for having to act in such a way that would ensure they get reappointed to the court, like many state judges have to deal with.
• Supreme Court Nominees to be approved by both the Senate and the Supreme Court.
• Allow the court a say in who become a a member. After all, the Court itself will likely best know they type of person who is suited for the court.
  
• Supreme Court Justices can be removed for Bad Behavior.
• Sometimes justices just need to be impeached.
  
• Supreme Court Justices elected from their own Ranks the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for a term of 5 years with a limit of Two terms per Justice.
• Take this choice away from the President. All the Chief Justices does anyway is preside over the court, decide who write the opinions, and preside over Presidential Impeachments.
  
• The Number of Seats of the Supreme Court is set at 9 seats.
• The Court cannot operate with fewer than 6 Justices
• Requires the court to operate at a quorum and provides an encouragement to confirm nominees in a timely manor.
  
• No Supreme Court Justice can be Confirmed by the Senate within 30 Days of a an election for any seat in the Senate or for the President. Such a length must be set and not easily changed.
  
• Prevents the politicization of the Court around the elections and ensure that the People have a say in who will appoint/confirm the next Justice to the court.
  
• In the event the Court does not have a Quorum, the Court can approve a Interim Justice.
• A method for the court to appoint a temporary interim justice so that they can operate without a quorum in the event it is too close to an election or if the Senate is refusing the consider nominees.

Whatever happens, the Supreme Court needs to be improved and reformed.