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- Title
SUPREME COURT LEGITIMACY AND REFORM: PROBLEMS WITH PERSONNEL AND COMPOSITION REFORM PROPOSALS.
- Authors
Morgan, Joe A.
- Abstract
Some people claim that the United States Supreme Court--which is currently dominated by a conservative supermajority--is in a legitimacy crisis. Unsurprisingly, many people are, therefore, calling for institutional reform. Several types of reform proposals have been presented over the years. This Note evaluates and presents a normative claim concerning a particular group of reform proposals: "personnel" or "composition" reform proposals-- those reform proposals that directly address the number of Justices, when Justices get replaced, how seats on the Court are allocated, and which Justices hear cases. This Note proceeds in three Parts. Part I provides an overview of the legal background, including the constitutional provisions and the corresponding doctrine, understandings, and norms concerning the Supreme Court. Part II discusses and evaluates current personnel and composition reform proposals, including altering the number of Justices, introducing term limits, allocating seats on the Court based on partisanship, and mandating that the Court decide cases as panels. Part III discusses the problems common to these personnel and composition reform proposals that emerge after evaluating them. This Note then concludes that reformers should jettison the notion that personnel and composition reform proposals can solve all of the Court's legitimacy problems on their own. Instead, reformers should consider and develop other, more neutral types of reform proposals that do not fetishize directly changing the Court's personnel and composition in order to reduce its politicization. Reformers' fixation on the Court's current personnel and composition is understandable, but focusing long-term institutional reform efforts on changing the same is misguided and counterproductive.
- Subjects
UNITED States. Supreme Court; JUDICIAL reform; APPELLATE courts; CONSTITUTIONAL courts; REFORMS; COURT personnel
- Publication
Nevada Law Journal, 2024, Vol 24, Issue 2, p643
- ISSN
2157-1899
- Publication type
Article