Hedging Their Bets: After Dem Losses, SCOTUS Reform Commission Delays Report

Written By BlabberBuzz | Friday, 05 November 2021 09:45 PM
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Hedging Their Bets: After Dem Losses, SCOTUS Reform Commission Delays Report

The commission that President Biden assembled to study Supreme Court reform will keep the release of its final report for one month, according to a source familiar with the plans, as its members work through the details. Many have speculated that the move was a result of the losses incurred by Democrats as they hold off on sweeping changes after having their agenda questioned by voters in Virginia, Seattle and New Jersey on November 3rd.

The bipartisan commission now intends to release updated discussion materials on Nov. 18 and assemble a meeting on those materials the following day. A draft report will be released on Dec. 6, a day after which a final meeting will take place. The final report is expected to be submitted to Biden on Dec. 15, a month later than expected.

The revised calendar was first reported by Punchbowl News Wednesday morning.

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In April, the commission, which Biden founded by executive order to examine issues like expanding the court and term limits, published its first batch of discussion materials in October. The materials, while not finalized, raised concerns about adding justices to the court but suggested that term limits should be seriously considered.

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The panel's original set of materials examined four areas: "Membership and Size of the Court," "Term Limits," "The Court's role in the Constitutional System," and "Case Selection and Review: Docket, Rules, and Practices."

The White House has stressed that the final report will be an evaluation and will not include specific suggestions for consideration. In response to a question from a reporter after the discussion materials were released last month, Biden said that he did not support term limits for the Supreme Court.

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Biden pledged during the Presidential campaign to establish a commission to study various reform proposals amid pressure to consider expanding the court, also referred to by some as "court-packing."

Progressives have pushed for expanding the court, particularly after Senate Republicans rushed through the approval of Justice Amy Coney Barrett in the weeks leading up to the 2020 election.

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Secretary of State Antony Blinken, condemned any move to weaken a country's democracy by "packing courts" for political gains and endangering judicial "independence" – an issue driving debate among U.S. lawmakers.

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During a Tuesday speech in Ecuador, Blinken stressed important signs of moves to undermine Democratic society.

"Consider a country where a leader is elected in a free and fair election and then sets about chipping away slowly but surely, at the pillars of democracy – attacking the free press, undermining the independence of the courts, threatening political opponents," he said. "Now, imagine that leader then seeks to use the levers of democracy to pass anti-democratic reforms, eliminating term limits, packing courts, firing legislators.

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"That's the story of more than one democracy in our hemisphere. And it's one of the ways that democracies can come undone," he added.

Blinken's remarks come after some Democrats on the Hill have repeatedly pressed President Biden and their congressional colleagues to add justices to the Supreme Court.

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