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The legislation by Sen #RonWyden (D-OR) is one of the most ambitious proposals to remake a high court that has suffered a sharp decline in its public approval after a string of contentious decisions & #ethics scandals in recent years. It has little chance of passing at the moment, since #Republicans have generally opposed efforts to overhaul the court.

#RonWyden …said the goal of the bill is to restore public confidence in a battered institution. He said he hopes to get parts of the bill passed, even if the whole package is not embraced by lawmakers.

“It’s not an atomic secret that the process for selecting justices is politicized,” #Wyden said. “You’ve got this thoroughly politicized process resulting in a #SupremeCourt that now frequently issues sweeping rulings to overturn laws & upend precedents.”

“We are proposing a way to restore some balance between the 3 branches of government,” Sen #RonWyden added.

The bill’s most significant measure would increase the number of justices from 9 to 15 over the course of 12 years. The staggered format over 2 or 3 administrations is aimed at diminishing the chance that one #political party would pack the courts with its nominees.

#law #SCOTUS #ethics #JudicialEthics

Link to bill, summary & full text:

https://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-introduces-sweeping-court-reforms-to-restore-public-trust-as-supreme-court-faces-legitimacy-crisis

During the rollout, each president would approve justices in the first & third year of their terms.

The bill would also require a ruling by ⅔ of the high court & the circuit courts of appeals, rather than a simple majority, to overturn a #law passed by #Congress. #Wyden said the current court has been too quick to discard #precedent & curtail #rights by narrow majorities.

The #legislation would also require #SCOTUS nominees to be automatically scheduled for a vote in the #Senate if their nominations have lingered in committee for >180 days.

The measure would prevent senators from blocking a president’s nominees by refusing to hold a vote on them, as then-Senate Majority Leader #MitchMcConnell (R-KY) did after President Barack #Obama’s nomination of #MerrickGarland in 2016.

#MitchMcConnell held open the seat that had been occupied by Justice #AntoninScalia, a #conservative, until #Trump became president. Trump put forward Neil M. #Gorsuch.

McConnell said #MerrickGarland’s nomination came too close to the 2016 presidential election, but he later helped push through the nomination of #AmyConeyBarrett [less than 1 month prior to the 2020 election]…, after the death of Justice #RuthBaderGinsburg, a *#liberal*.

[#MitchMcConnell’s maneuvering]…helped create the #conservative supermajority that now dominates the court.

Another provision in #RonWyden’s bill would expand the number of federal #judicial circuits from 13 to 15, adding >100 district court #judges & >60 appellate-level judges.

#SCOTUS justices must report income, dividends, property sales & gifts, among other things, but the bill would bolster financial checks, disclosures & other transparency measures.

It would require the #IRS to initiate an #audit of the justices’ tax returns each year, release the results & make the tax filings public. Nominees to the court would have to disclose 3 yrs of tax returns.

Another measure would allow a two-thirds vote of the court to force a fellow justice to #recuse from a case.

Each justice would be required to publicly release their opinions & disclose how they voted on issues considered on an emergency basis, sometimes referred to as the #ShadowDocket. Such decisions, which have become more common & increasingly controversial in recent years, don’t identify how each justice voted.

@Aviva_Gary

You are not dense at all

I couldn’t find term limits addressed anywhere in the bill.

@Nonilex interesting... interesting indeed