Reposted by Harper Sims
when you don't have creative people involved we can tell
Harper Sims
@harpersims.bsky.social
304 followers 272 following 45 posts
harpersims.site Animation, Design & Vis Dev // Los Angeles, CA (she/her)
harpersims.site Animation, Design & Vis Dev // Los Angeles, CA (she/her)
![And that’s OK! Because Congress — with the support of the executive — has the tools to fix all of this. It’s time to put them to work. Here are five proposals, ranked by impact and speed of implementation: Congress has the power of the purse. [truncated for space]
Congress has authority to limit the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court under Article III, Section 2, Clause 2 that says that the appellate jurisdiction of the court shall be subject to “such exceptions and under such regulations as the Congress shall make.” I have introduced legislation to effectively eliminate all political influence over appellate decisions by shifting responsibility to a panel of judges, randomly selected for each case from our senior circuit judges. The Supreme Court would then be limited to its stipulated “original jurisdiction” — matters relating to ambassadors and disputes where one of the states is a party.
Congress gave the court the ability to decide what cases it will hear (“grant cert”) via the Judiciary Act of 1925. One of the quickest ways to reduce the political influence of the existing court would be to take away their ability to decide which of the cases on which lower courts have already ruled could be considered for reversal.
Congress may be able to impose term limits on the justices. There is some debate on this point because the Constitution says that sitting justices serve “during good behavior” which many have taken to imply that — in the absence of a Constitutional amendment — justices will keep their job until death, retirement or impeachment.
Congress set the size of the court at nine justices in the Judiciary Act of 1869. Congress could expand the court again, although this only provides a check if the president responsible for nomination does not share the current justices’ ideological biases.
Congress has the power, and the responsibility to restore the integrity of the Supreme Court. Let’s use it.
Sean Casten represents the 6th District of Illinois in Congress](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:bpna2qi2e44fafbhhtqjak3x/bafkreiayo4vgap4byfi2ebgjugahyptxjznze322tujocsxnkmeschalbi)
