Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., is eyeing sweeping Supreme Court reform in the next Congress should Democrats sweep the White House and both chambers of Congress in November.
In an interview with NBC News, Schumer said he has a working list of priorities that Democrats want to implement, actions that would require Democrat-controlled executive and legislative branches that he doesn't yet have and are a long shot at best.
"It's a very big priority," Schumer told NBC News ahead of the Hill's five-week summer recess. "I feel very strongly for the sake of the republic we need reform in the courts."
Schumer said he's teeing up three major reform bills:
- Ethics code for Supreme Court justices
- 18-year term limits for the court
- Ending "forum shopping," or judge shopping, which litigants use to find a friendly court to hear their case
Schumer already introduced the No Kings Act, which aims to reverse the high court's ruling on presidential immunity.
However, Democrats have a slate of vulnerable seats to defend in the Senate and they’re already staring at a 50-50 split heading into November with the retirement of Democrat turned independent Joe Manchin in West Virginia. A Republican likely will win that seat. Democrats have to defend the rest — including Ohio, Montana, and Nevada — to keep from being the minority in the upper chamber.
Republicans currently have a slight majority in the House and Republican nominee Donald Trump leads presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris by 1.2 points, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.
Further, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has called any reform legislation "dead on arrival," and Senate Judiciary Committee member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said "hell no" when asked if Republicans would take up any of them.
"Democrats have made the very cynical decision to try to destroy the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary," Cruz told NBC News.
Schumer is undeterred.
"The Supreme Court has become a morass, both ethically and substantively," he said, adding that Chief Justice John Roberts has been "derelict in his duties" to enforce standards.
"We're going to look at everything. There are lots of proposals," Schumer told NBC News.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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