The Biden administration is convening a bipartisan commission to consider expanding the U.S. Supreme Court – an idea Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader this week called “the big one. “
Several senior attorneys and former Justice Department officials have been recruited for the panel, which is expected to have between nine and 15 members, Politician said Wednesday, citing sources familiar with the plan.
At least one future nominee – former president of the Society of American Constitution Caroline Fredrickson – has expressed her support for the potential expansion of the Supreme Court, Politico said.
“I have often submitted to people who are not lawyers that the Supreme Court is not defined as a‘ nine-person body ’in the Constitution, and it has changed dimensions several times,” Fredrickson said in 2019.
On Monday night, Schumer (D-NY) told MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” that Democrats plan to increase the number of federal lower court judges to compensate for the more than 200 that have been successfully nominated by the United States. former President Donald Trump.
Schumer also called the notion of the Supreme Court’s expansion of nine members “the big one,” but declined to say whether he would favor doing so.
Instead, Schumer said he expects a recommendation from the commission, which Biden last year promise to create, with the mandate to issue a report within 180 days.
At the time, Biden said the Supreme Court was “getting out of hand,” but said he was “not a fan of the court environment.”
“The last thing we need to do is turn the Supreme Court into just political football, the one who gets the most votes gets everything he wants,” Biden told CBS’s “60 Minutes” in October.
“Presidents go and go. Supreme Court judges remain for generations. ”
The Biden commission’s formation has progressive groups that favor the expansion of the skeptical court that will get its wish, Politico said.
“Commissions are often the places where ideas go to die and there is no more time to reform the court,” Aaron Belkin of Take Back the Court told the website.
Another future candidate, Harvard Law School professor and former U.S. assistant attorney general Jack Goldsmith, is likely to frustrate progressives because of his outspoken support for Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court, Politico said. .
Kavanaugh is part of three judges nominated by former President Donald Trump, who he has elected has increased the Conservative majority on the high court at 6-3.
In addition to the Supreme Court, the Biden commission will also consider reforms at lower-level federal courts, including the judiciary, a head of administration told Politico.
Federal judges are now receiving life-long appointments, but Biden campaign attorney Bob Bauer – who is expected to co-chair the commission and help select its members – is an advocate of limiting his terms, Politico said.
Bauer’s co-chair on the commission is expected to be Yale Law School professor Cristina Rodriguez, a former deputy attorney general of the United States.
The Biden administration has neither confirmed nor denied Politico’s information.
“The president remains engaged in an expert study of the role and debate on court reform and will have more to say in the coming weeks,” a White House website said on the website.
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