Is it time to change the Supreme Court, and can it happen?

Insider

The Supreme Court is facing a legitimacy crisis, with over half of Americans disapproving of the way it’s handling its job. What caused this decline, and can reforms restore its credibility?

Transcript

00:00Now it's time to let him speak!

00:02The Supreme Court in recent years has suffered not only from low public opinion,

00:06but a wave of ethical issues that have shattered trust in the body.

00:10The right-wing justices on the Supreme Court are completely and totally out of control.

00:15The most recent Gallup poll, taken in July 2024,

00:19showed that the court had a 52% disapproval rating, while 43% of respondents approved.

00:25This was a stark contrast with a poll taken in July 2020,

00:29which showed that the court at the time had a 58% approval rating, with 38% disapproving.

00:35Some have called for the removal or resignation of justices from the court,

00:39and some also want to expand the size of the court.

00:42But how would these things work?

00:44I'm John Dorman, and I'm a senior politics reporter at Business Insider.

00:48The Supreme Court was established in the U.S. Constitution.

00:51It doesn't specify how many justices can serve, and that number can be changed by Congress.

00:56But the Judiciary Act of 1869 set the number of justices at nine,

01:00a chief justice and eight associate justices.

01:04Since then, the nomination process has become more polarized in recent years.

01:08Supreme Court nominees like Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg,

01:12and John Roberts were easily confirmed with bipartisan support.

01:15The ayes are 78, the nays are 22.

01:18The nomination of John G. Roberts, Jr. of Maryland

01:22to be chief justice of the United States is confirmed.

01:25But the votes for nominees have now become an ideological litmus test.

01:28This division is really a reflection of the partisanship within Congress,

01:32which has reached a fever pitch.

01:35Lots of senators have also run for president or are thinking of running,

01:38and the Supreme Court has become the perfect institution to exert ideological influence.

01:43The court's 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade

01:47also hardened many feelings about the institution.

01:50It's out there!

01:51But it's not just legal decisions that are being questioned by the public in recent years.

01:56It's also the personal ethics of justices.

01:58The most famous example is Clarence Thomas,

02:01who faced heavy criticism after ProPublica in April 2023 published a bombshell report

02:07detailing how for years he had taken luxury vacations

02:11funded by the billionaire mega-donor Harlan Crowe and had not disclosed the trips.

02:15Thomas said at the time that he was advised that it

02:18wasn't necessary to report, quote,

02:21this sort of personal hospitality, end quote.

02:24But he said he'd adhere to the new guidelines set forth

02:26by the Judicial Conference of the United States.

02:29Before that, Thomas came under intense scrutiny as his wife,

02:33conservative activist Jenny Thomas,

02:35was involved in the push to overturn Biden's 2020 victory.

02:39She was even interviewed by this January 6th committee.

02:43Samuel Alito has also been in the spotlight.

02:46The New York Times reported that an upside-down American flag

02:49was observed flying outside of Alito's home

02:52after the January 6th, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

02:56The flag's direction is widely seen as a message of support

03:00for Trump's push to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

03:04Alito responded by saying that his wife was responsible for the flag's placement

03:08and he rejected the notion that he'd recuse himself

03:11from January 6th-related cases.

03:13Given these developments, the court's standing has fallen

03:17in the eyes of many Americans.

03:18Despite that, are these justices untouchable

03:22or can they be removed from the court?

03:24To impeach a Supreme Court justice,

03:26a member of the House would introduce articles of impeachment,

03:30but a two-thirds majority would be needed to convict and remove a justice,

03:33a virtually unrealistic proposition in today's closely divided Congress.

03:37To be clear, no Supreme Court justice has ever been successfully removed.

03:41Democrats in Congress are trying to institute some form of ethics

03:45with the Supreme Court.

03:46President Biden has even laid out a proposal

03:48that would create 18-year term limits for justices,

03:51institute a binding code of conduct for justices,

03:54and he wants lawmakers to pass a constitutional amendment

03:56that would limit presidential immunity.

03:58And he's also heavily criticized the overturn of Roe v. Wade

04:02and the ruling that essentially in the affirmative action

04:04in college admissions.

04:06We won't go back!

04:07Harris has backed Biden's reforms,

04:10saying there is a clear crisis of confidence facing the Supreme Court.

04:13And there's another proposal from Oregon Senator Ron Wyden.

04:17He introduced a bill recently in the Senate

04:20that would increase the number of justices on the court

04:22from nine to 15 over 12 years.

04:24It would direct the IRS to audit justices every year.

04:28It would also mandate that Supreme Court nominees

04:30release three years of tax returns

04:33and it would allow a two-thirds vote among justices

04:35for a justice to recuse themselves from a case.

04:37But the proposals have little chance of passing,

04:40even in the current Democratic-controlled Senate.

04:42Republicans, who see the conservative majority on the court

04:46as the fruit of their decades of labor

04:48in prioritizing the Supreme Court,

04:50see Democratic attempts at reforms as a power grab.

04:53Mitch McConnell, the architect of the GOP roadmap

04:56to transform the court,

04:57blocked the Mira Garland pick for most of 2016,

05:01which paved the way for Trump to nominate Neil Gorsuch.

05:04But Democrats have not forgotten about it

05:06and they're still upset over the move.

05:08But at the time, they were powerless to stop it.

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