WASHINGTON – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has big plans Supreme Court If the Democrats win, the federal judiciary 2024 electionsfrom enforcing ethical standards and preventing litigants from “shopping” for friendly judges to overturning legislative decisions abortion and presidential immunity.
“It’s a very big priority,” said Schumer, DN.Y. He said in an interview with NBC News Thursday before the Senate went on a five-week summer recess. “I feel very strongly for the sake of the republic, we need reforms in the courts.”
Schumer said Republicans have devised a “brilliant but destructive” scheme to get the courts to adopt a “hard-right” agenda for which they have failed to find public support. “They have tried to take over the courts for three decades,” he said. “They nailed it.”
Democrats have put forward a number of proposals for the Supreme Court and the judiciary. some with the support of the Biden administration. It would impose a mandatory code of ethics disclosure and disclaimer rulesDemocrats for justice tried to pass after ProPublica reported this year Undisclosed gifts to Justice Clarence Thomas from a wealthy GOP donor. Another would impose an 18-year term limit on justices. The third will end”forum shopping,” where savvy litigants can try major cases before friendly judges in special divisions. “No Kings Act” opened By Schumer on Thursday, it would overturn the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity — which ruled that presidents are immune from prosecution for certain “official acts” — and limit the court’s ability to determine to whom criminal laws apply. And the Women’s Health Protection Act would restore federal abortion rights, as the court ruled in Roe v. Will overturn 2022 decision against Wade.
If Democrats take control of the White House and both houses of Congress, Schumer said there are a wide range of ideas.
“The Supreme Court has become a quagmire, both ethically and substantively,” Schumer said. “We will look at everything. There are many offers.”
Congress should intervene in Supreme Court ethics, he said, because Chief Justice John Roberts is “deprived of his responsibilities” and won’t enforce the standards himself.
Unless Democrats win the trifecta in 2025, the proposals have no real chance of passing. Asked if Republicans would entertain any of them if they win the Senate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said: “Hell no. “
“Democrats have made a very brazen decision to try to destroy the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary,” Cruz said.
Republicans are happy with the 6-3 conservative majority they built on the Supreme Court and have pushed to reform it as Democrats lash out at its results. Outgoing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called Senate term limits and ethics legislation “dead on arrival.” But Schumer said it was bigger than ideological disputes.
The Democratic leader of the Senate will also have to find a way out of the 60-vote rule to pass judicial reforms. Asked whether a filibuster was on the table, Schumer said: “I’m not going to speculate about a filibuster at this point. But I would say we need to change the courts to deal with the quagmire. And we look at everything.”
Vice President Kamala Harris, the de facto Democratic presidential nominee, approved term limits and ethics rules this week. He said there was “a clear crisis of confidence facing the Supreme Court” as its fairness was called into question after multiple ethics scandals and a ruling that overturned longstanding precedent.
Before the new year, Schumer has an immediate priority: confirming more judges. He set a goal of surpassing the 234 judges confirmed by former President Donald Trump in four years. So far, President Joe Biden has secured 205 judges.
“We will use a lame duck to confirm judges,” he said, referring to the post-election period until the new year. “And we’re going to do everything we can to get as many judges done as possible, trying to clear Republican obstruction.”
But Schumer stopped short of promising to beat Trump’s total.
“We will do our best,” he said.