'Kings ruling from above': Reining in 'too powerful' SCOTUS has 'broad bipartisan consensus'

15 June 2024

A significant number of American voters will be considering the makeup of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) when they cast their ballots this November, according to a recent poll.

On Saturday, the Guardian cited a poll from progressive group Stand Up America showing that that three-fourths of Americans — including 80% of independents — say that partisan control of the nation's highest court will be a top consideration for them when voting for president and U.S. senator. And because the poll was conducted prior to documentary filmmaker Lauren Windsor's widely publicized audio recordings of Justice Samuel Alito and his wife, Martha-Ann making brazenly partisan statements, the anti-SCOTUS sentiment expressed by respondents of the poll could intensify in the coming months.

"The idea that these guys act as if they are kings ruling from above, to me, should absolutely be an issue," Reed Galen, who is a co-founder of anti-Trump Republican group the Lincoln Project, told the Guardian. "It was always Republicans who said we hate unelected judges legislating from the bench and we hate judicial activism. That’s all this stuff is."

Even though SCOTUS approved a code of ethics for itself late last year, it noticeably included no enforcement mechanism and depended on unelected justices — who are appointed for life and have never once been successfully impeached and convicted by Congress — to police themselves. Activists argue that it has proven to be toothless, and are calling on Congress to pass binding reforms that require stricter disclosure requirements and penalties for violating them.

"It’s important to keep in mind that, even though debate among members of Congress would lead you to believe that court reform is a polarizing issue, it really isn’t. For years we have seen broad bipartisan support for basic supreme court reforms such as ethics," said Maggie Jo Buchanan, who is managing director of the activist group Demand Justice. "A broad bipartisan consensus exists that they’ve grown too powerful, that they have too much power over laws and regulations... So the demand is there and this isn’t something where it’s Democrats versus Republicans in the sense of real people."

"The American people want change and want to check the judiciary," she added.

In addition to Alito, Justice Clarence Thomas has also come under intense scrutiny in the past year as more details emerge about his failure to report expensive gifts from wealthy benefactors, like billionaire Harlan Crow. A recent Senate report found that Thomas has received more than $5 million in gifts since he was appointed to the bench by the late former president George H.W. Bush.

In addition to passing binding ethics reforms, calls are also mounting for President Joe Biden to expand the Supreme Court beyond just nine justices should he win a second term in November. Biden has centered his campaign around the restoration of abortion rights in the wake of the Court overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022, and the Constitution notably does not limit the number of justices to nine members. In fact, Congress has the ability to pass legislation for Biden to sign that would expand the court to allow Biden to appoint new SCOTUS justices.

Another priority of activists is to impose term limits on SCOTUS. One popular proposal by Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) suggests a maximum 18-year term for any new SCOTUS justice . It would also stagger out Supreme Court appointments to make sure no president can appoint more than two justices in a single four-year term.

“It shouldn’t be controversial to say that the American people deserve a Supreme Court insulated from politics. But when every confirmation turns into an all out partisan battle, or when one administration alone can overturn a lifetime of precedent, it’s clear: the Court has lost its way," Sen. Padilla stated. “By imposing commonsense term limits, we can lower the temperature on political brinksmanship and start to restore trust in the highest court in our land.”

Click here to read the Guardian's full report.

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