The 34-member Supreme Court Commission tasked with investigating complex issues such as expanding the bench and implementing term limits has prepared its final report for President Biden. Background: In April, Joe Biden announced the formation of a 34-member commission to take a deeper look into issues surrounding the Supreme Court. The bipartisan group was instructed to investigate controversial issues such as court-packing and term limits and later make a recommendation to the president. The commission held six public hearings and called on 44 witnesses to create its 288-page report. Many vocal Democrats have called to expand the number of Supreme Court justices, especially after President Trump appointed Amy Coney Barrett to the bench. What Happened: The commission stopped short of making specific recommendations in its final report. “Given the size and nature of the Commission and the complexity of the issues addressed, individual members of the Commission would have written the Report with different emphases and approaches,” the report’s summary read. “But the Commission submits this Report today in the belief that it represents a fair and constructive treatment of the complex and often highly controversial issues it was charged with examining.”(per Fox News) Court Packing: The report said on the matter of court-packing: “No serious person, in either major political party, suggests court packing as a means of overturning disliked Supreme Court decisions, whether the decision in question is Roe v. Wade or Citizens United. Scholars could say, until very recently, that even as compared to other court reform efforts, ‘court-packing’ is especially out of bounds. This is part of the convention of judicial independence.” “The commission takes no position on the validity or strength of these claims.”
The 34-member Supreme Court Commission tasked with investigating complex issues such as expanding the bench and implementing term limits has prepared its final report for President Biden. Background: In April, Joe Biden announced the formation of a 34-member commission to take a deeper look into issues surrounding the Supreme Court. The bipartisan group was instructed to investigate controversial issues such as court-packing and term limits and later make a recommendation to the president. The commission held six public hearings and called on 44 witnesses to create its 288-page report. Many vocal Democrats have called to expand the number of Supreme Court justices, especially after President Trump appointed Amy Coney Barrett to the bench. What Happened: The commission stopped short of making specific recommendations in its final report. “Given the size and nature of the Commission and the complexity of the issues addressed, individual members of the Commission would have written the Report with different emphases and approaches,” the report’s summary read. “But the Commission submits this Report today in the belief that it represents a fair and constructive treatment of the complex and often highly controversial issues it was charged with examining.”(per Fox News) Court Packing: The report said on the matter of court-packing: “No serious person, in either major political party, suggests court packing as a means of overturning disliked Supreme Court decisions, whether the decision in question is Roe v. Wade or Citizens United. Scholars could say, until very recently, that even as compared to other court reform efforts, ‘court-packing’ is especially out of bounds. This is part of the convention of judicial independence.” “The commission takes no position on the validity or strength of these claims.”
