US President Biden has ordered a 180-day study of the Supreme Court. It includes the possibility of adding more justices or setting term limits. The White House said in a statement that a bipartisan commission will study the genesis of the reform debate and 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. Point to be noted that President Biden signed the executive order on Friday afternoon. He had pledged to create such a commission while he was still running for president, after Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died and outgoing president Donald Trump replaced her with the conservative Amy Coney Barrett, tipping the scale of the court further to the right.
President Biden has not said whether he favors adding more seats to the court’s bench or setting limits on justices’ time there. However, he largely defused the issue by promising to commission a study rather than saying what he would do, during the presidential campaign. The White House said, “President Biden will today issue an executive order forming the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, comprised of a bipartisan group of experts on the Court and the Court reform debate. 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 commissioners will include legal scholars, former federal judges, and advocates for the reform of democratic institutions and of the administration of justice”.
It is noteworthy that Biden has been under intense pressure to reform the court from left-wing activists. Senate Republicans under the leadership of Mitch McConnell rejected to hold a confirmation hearing for President Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland in 2016. However, view reforming the court was a power grab similar to President Franklin Roosevelt’s “court-packing” scheme in the 1930s. He attempted and failed to load the court with justices more amenable to his New Deal programs. Justice Stephen Breyer weighed in on the issue this week, warned that anyone whose initial instincts may favor important structural (or other similar institutional) changes. He said, ”Should think long and hard before embodying those changes in the law. I hope and expect that the court will retain its authority. But that authority, like the rule of law, depends on trust”.