We are one step closer to a possibility that Democrats will pack the Supreme Court. President Biden is preparing to issue an executive order which will form a bipartisan commission to study and analyze potential changes to the Supreme Court. The commission will perform a 180-day study of changes such as court-packing and setting term limits for justices.
A released statement from the White House stated, “the commission’s purpose is to provide an analysis of the principal arguments in the contemporary public debate for and against Supreme Court reform, including an appraisal of the merits and legality of particular reform proposals.”
“The topics it will examine include the genesis of the reform debate; the Court’s role in the Constitutional system; the length of service and turnover of justices on the Court; the membership and size of the Court; and the Court’s case selection, rules, and practices,” said the statement.
The timing of Biden’s decision could prove monumental, and if changes were to occur, a shift in the United States that could never be undone. The United States Senate is currently divided 50-50. Liberal Justice Stephen Breyer has even spoken out against the idea.
The Wall Street Journal reported: “Justice Stephen Breyer said proposals to restructure the Supreme Court could damage its reputation as an apolitical body, dealing a blow to liberals pressing to increase the number of justices to counter Republican successes in seating three members nominated by former President Donald Trump.”
According to prepared remarks publicly released of Justice Breyer’s speech to Harvard Law School earlier his week, Justice Breyer said he hoped “to make those whose initial instincts may favor important structural (or other similar institutional) changes, such as forms of ‘court-packing,’ think long and hard before embodying those changes in law.”
