Exploring ways to lessen the political influence on the Supreme Court, President Joe Biden announced Friday the creation of a commission to study reforms to the Supreme Court that could change the long-term composition of the Court, ABC News reports.
There are many potential moves that could legally be implemented to reform the Court and all federal courts, including instituting term limits, expanding the number of SCOTUS justices and increasing the number of federal judicial districts.
Critics of the current system point to the delay in appointing a justice after the death of Antonin Scalia, caused by political obstruction from Republicans with roughly a year left in the Obama Administration, as fuel for the reform movement.
Legal adviser to Biden’s campaign Bob Bauer and Yale Law School professor Cristina Rodriguez will serve as chairs. Thirty-six people, including renowned constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe, NAACP President Sherrilyn Ifill, Brennan Center for Justice President Michael Waldman, and voting rights expert Michael Kang, will serve on the commission.
The commission is tasked with providing Biden recommendations in 180 days.