Biden under pressure from left to reform Supreme Court

Elody Cousin
France Media Agency

A week after the formation of a commission on temple reform of American law ordered by the Democratic president, the message is clear: the progressive section of the party does not want to wait, and tries to listen.

“We don’t need a commission to tell us that the court should restore balance,” Mondair Jones, a member of the Progressive Elected House of Representatives, began. To increase the number of judges, “this is to protect our democracy”.

“The Supreme Court of the United States is no longer functioning,” Senator Ed Marquez told a news conference in front of the High Court building to present his bill.

The Supreme Court, which decides in America on many social issues such as abortion or the rights of sexual minorities, has nine judges for life. They are appointed by the President of the United States and must be certified by the Senate.

It currently has six conservative judges, three of whom were appointed by former Republican President Donald Trump.

“No one can say that the vast majority of the six ultra-conservative Republican judges will give a balanced court,” said Christopher Kong, head of the organization that advocates for court reform, “demanded justice.”

The bill (“The Judiciary Act of 2021”) provides for the inclusion of four seats from nine to 13 in court.

No voting plan

Democrats control the majority in the House and Senate, along with the White House. But their margins were so narrow that they overcame Republican opposition to the idea.

Even among Democrats in particular, some believe we must wait for the commission’s resolutions, led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

On Thursday he warned that he did not support the bill and would not even put it to a vote.

The Democratic leader stressed the need to study the idea, but followed Joe Biden’s “correct approach.”

The 46^E On April 9, the President of the United States signed an executive order forming a commission of Democratic and Republican experts charged with examining the most sensitive aspects of the Supreme Court’s reform: the term of office of its members, their number, the path by which the body decides, its rules and its methods.

She has six months to make recommendations.

When asked about Joe Biden’s response to the bill, White House spokeswoman Jen Saki recalled that the president wanted to “wait” for the commission’s resolutions.

The announcement of its creation provoked fierce opposition among Republicans, who condemned the attempt they had already made to “radically change the Supreme Court” and the “direct attack” on the independence of the judiciary.

“Even the far left can’t wait for a false demonstration around a false study,” Republican leader Mitch McConnell slammed in the Senate on Thursday.

He recalled that the bill would destroy the legitimacy of the court, with two progressive judges of the court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died in September 2020, and Stephen Breyer, who is still sitting, speaking out against the idea.

“Moran”

During the presidential campaign, candidate Biden confirmed that he was not in favor of the idea of ​​increasing the number of judges in the Supreme Court.

“We will add three new judges. Next time, we will lose power. They will add three new judges,” he said in 2019. “And the court is losing its credibility.”

But the White House says it is now ready to hear other views from its committee.

The calls from the progressive camp to reform the esteemed organization were further intensified by the controversial appointments made by Donald Trump.

Democrats were struck by 49-year-old Conservative Magistrate Amy Connie Barrett, replacing progressive and feminist icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died less than two months before the 2020 presidential election.

Considering the age of other conservative new appointees, his arrival will anchor the court to the right for decades.