Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden said that he would appoint a bipartisan committee of legal, constitutional and judicial scholars to study a complete overhaul of the US judicial system, including how judges get appointed and the length of their terms.
In a 60 Minutes interview that will air Sunday, reported by the New York Times, Biden said he would ask the commission to spend six months to review the system and come back to him with recommendations on improving the system.
“The way in which it’s being handled, and it’s not about court packing, there’s a number of other things that our constitutional scholars have debated and I’ve looked to see what recommendations that commission might make,” Biden said.
Biden has previously said that he is not in favor of adding more justices to the Supreme Court to balance out the conservative slant the court has because of irregular and hypocritical republican practices regarding Presidential appointments.
The same problem exists on lower courts, as the republican-majority, led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, refused to seat hundreds of nominees presented by Democratic President Barack Obama.
Biden has also proposed the creation of courts specifically dealing with low-level drug crimes, pushing people into rehab and recovery rather than jail. Many state and local jurisdictions use similar structures for addicts, as well as a separate court system for veterans suffering from addiction and PTSD, which have had success at reducing recidivism rates.