The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the nation’s highest court, and any decision made by the Supreme Court cannot be overturned or appealed. In school, we’re taught that the justices who serve on the court are meant to be non-partisan, unbiased, and serve their terms for life. However, the court has been anything but that in recent years.
We’re also taught that elected officials essentially speak on behalf of the people they serve. So, if SCOTUS justices aren’t elected, how can we be sure that they’re protecting our best interests? Since we place so much trust as a country in just nine individuals, why isn’t the U.S. prioritizing keeping Supreme Court justices non-partisan, unbiased and representative of the people?
In an effort to reform the Supreme Court, President Joe Biden announced a plan to ensure that no president or justice is above the law. The first of these bold reforms is that no former president should have presidential immunity for crimes committed while in office. Next, referring directly to SCOTUS justices, Biden wishes to enact term limits for justices on the Supreme Court and create a binding code of conduct for the Supreme Court. Term limits of 18 years would keep stability in the court, but would ultimately prevent any single president from having control over the court. Enforcing a code of conduct would require to disclose any received gifts, and refrain from public political activity.
Elected officials represent the people that elected them whether that be at a federal, state or local level; because of this, it is their responsibility as a representative of their citizens to advocate and make decisions on their behalf. Currently, Supreme Court justices are nominated by the president if there is a vacancy. Once nominated, the appointment goes to the Senate and with a simple majority vote in their favor, we have a brand new justice.
However, there is no limit to how many justices a president can nominate, there are no term limits and the people have very little control over who serves on the Supreme Court, despite the court having a lot of control over the people. A resolution to this is to state a maximum number of Supreme Court justices a president can nominate during their term, and to add those SCOTUS nominations to a general election, where the people can get a say in who represents them.
Presidents should’ve had a maximum number of nominations to begin with. During the Trump presidency, he nominated three Supreme Court justices. This caused the court to take a dramatic shift to a right-wing majority, and has proved to align with Donald Trump during the Trump v. United States case, granting him presidential immunity for “official acts.” Speaking in specifics of the case, this means attempting to use the Department of Justice to obstruct the results for the election was deemed an act done in his official capacity. In a 6-3 majority, the Supreme Court freed presidents to use their official powers to engage in criminal acts substantially free of accountability. The nation’s highest court that is supposed to be non-partisan and representative of the people they serve, is now putting Americans at risk.
The Supreme Court is the governing body that ultimately decides what is constitutional and what is not. With a right-wing majority, newly granted presidential immunity and justices receiving gifts worth millions of dollars, our democracy continues to be in a fragile state. We need Judicial Reform in the Supreme Court immediately. We need a limit on how many justices a president can appoint, for gifts to be disclosed, term limits and for justices to be elected by the people. Americans would benefit from even a few of these reforms being enacted. Ensuring that “We the People” have a say is what will not just balance the values of the court, but l protect our democracy. Our democracy is dependent on change.
