Estimated reading time: 5 minutes, 1 second

Biden Orders Commission to Study SCOTUS, Changes Expected

President Joe Biden has formed a new, bi-partisan commission of legal scholars to study the Supreme Court and debate the merits of reforming the nation’s highest court, according to an announcement from the White House.

supreme court 544218 640smallThe Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States was formed by executive order and is comprised of scholars, former federal judges as well as “advocates for the reform of democratic institutions and of the administration of justice,” according to the announcement. Expertise represented will span history, law and political science.

“The Commission’s purpose is to provide an analysis of the principal arguments in the contemporary public debate for and against Supreme Court reform, including an appraisal of the merits and legality of particular reform proposals,” according to the White House. “The topics it will examine include the genesis of the reform debate; the Court’s role in the Constitutional system; the length of service and turnover of justices on the Court; the membership and size of the Court; and the Court’s case selection, rules, and practices.”

From Twitter

Hugo Lowell @hugolowell Apr 9

"House Dem Mondaire Jones says of new Biden presidential commission to examine Supreme Court reform: 'The question is no longer if we will reform the Supreme Court, but how we will reform the Supreme Court.'"

The commission will have two co-chairs: Bob Bauer, Professor of Practice and Distinguished Scholar in Residence at New York University School of Law and former White House counsel and Yale Law School Professor Cristina Rodriguez. “I am honored to be asked to participate in the consideration of these weighty matters and look forward to the work,” said Rodríguez in a statement. According to the announcement, the commission will host public meetings and solicit the opinions of other experts and groups. The commission is expected to deliver a report within 180 days of the first public meeting.

“This action is part of the Administration’s commitment to closely study measures to improve the federal judiciary, including those that would expand access the court system,” according to the announcement.

From Twitter 

Emerald Robinson @EmeraldRobinson Apr 9

"Biden asked Republicans to 'unite' behind him three months ago but today he established a commission to pack the Supreme Court."

Robinson is a White House correspondent for Newsmax

Below is a complete list of the commissioners with a brief description of their relevant expertise. For more biographical information regarding the members, visit here.

  • Michelle Adams, Professor of Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
  • Kate Andrias, Professor of Law at the University of Michigan
  • Jack M. Balkin, Knight Professor of Constitutional Law and the First Amendment at Yale Law School
  • Bob Bauer, Professor of Practice and Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the New York University School of Law and Co-Director of NYU Law’s Legislative and Regulatory Process Clinic
  • William Baude, Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Constitutional Law Institute at the University of Chicago Law School
  • Elise Boddie, Professor of Law and Judge Robert L. Carter Scholar at Rutgers University
  • Guy-Uriel E. Charles, Edward and Ellen Schwarzman Professor of Law at Duke Law School
  • Andrew Manuel Crespo, Professor of Law at Harvard University
  • Walter Dellinger, Douglas Maggs Emeritus Professor of Law at Duke University
  • Justin Driver, Robert R. Slaughter Professor of Law at Yale Law School
  • Richard H. Fallon, Jr., Harvard Law School Story Professor of Law
  • Caroline Fredrickson, Distinguished Visiting Professor from Practice at Georgetown Law and a Senior Fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice
  • Heather Gerken, Dean and Sol & Lillian Goldman Professor of Law at Yale Law School
  • Nancy Gertner, United States District Court Judge from 1994-2011
  • Jack Goldsmith, Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School
  • Thomas B. Griffith, Served on the U. S. Court of Appeals for the D. C. Circuit from 2005-2020
  • Tara Leigh Grove, Charles E. Tweedy, Jr., Endowed Chairholder of Law and Director of the Program in Constitutional Studies at the University of Alabama School of Law.
  • Bert I. Huang, Michael I. Sovern Professor of Law at Columbia University
  • Sherrilyn Ifill, President & Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc.
  • Michael S. Kang, William G. and Virginia K. Karnes Research Professor at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law
  • Olatunde Johnson, Jerome B. Sherman Professor of Law at Columbia Law
  • Alison L. LaCroix, Robert Newton Reid Professor of Law at the University of Chicago Law School
  • Maggie Lemos, Robert G. Seaks LL.B. ’34 Professor of Law, Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research, and faculty co-advisor for the Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke Law School
  • David F. Levi, Levi Family Professor of Law and Judicial Studies and Director of the Bolch Judicial Institute at Duke Law School
  • Trevor Morrison, Dean of NYU School of Law, where he is also the Eric M. and Laurie B. Roth Professor of Law
  • Caleb Nelson, Emerson G. Spies Distinguished Professor of Law and the Caddell and Chapman Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law
  • Richard H. Pildes, Sudler Family Professor of Constitutional Law at New York University School of Law
  • Michael D. Ramsey, Hugh and Hazel Darling Foundation Professor of Law at the University of San Diego School of Law
  • Cristina M. Rodríguez, Leighton Homer Surbeck Professor of Law at Yale Law School
  • Kermit Roosevelt, Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
  • Bertrall Ross, Chancellor’s Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law
  • David Strauss, Gerald Ratner Distinguished Service Professor of Law and the Faculty Director of the Supreme Court and Appellate Clinic at the University of Chicago.
  • Laurence Tribe, Carl M. Loeb University Professor and Professor of Constitutional Law Emeritus at Harvard University.
  • Adam White, Resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and an assistant professor of law at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School
  • Keith E. Whittington, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Politics at Princeton University
  • Michael Waldman, President of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law
Read 2372 times
Rate this item
(0 votes)

Visit other PMG Sites:

PMG360 is committed to protecting the privacy of the personal data we collect from our subscribers/agents/customers/exhibitors and sponsors. On May 25th, the European's GDPR policy will be enforced. Nothing is changing about your current settings or how your information is processed, however, we have made a few changes. We have updated our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy to make it easier for you to understand what information we collect, how and why we collect it.