The Future of Judicial Reform
This excerpt is from a piece by Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza that originally ran in Ms. Magazine on November 22, 2024.
Judicial reform is critical not just to the integrity of that branch of government but to the checks and balances among the three branches—and the rule of law in the United States. With its immunity decision, the Roberts Court stole from Congress the power to define who is subject to the laws it makes. A Court that’s flagrantly rewritten the Constitution and regularly issued overtly partisan rulings to benefit Trump isn’t likely to stop.
Still early in the Court’s current term, the justices have already granted cases offering myriad opportunities to undermine Congress further by revising federal laws and dictating how they are enacted. The latter is now easier for all federal courts thanks to this Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright v. Raimondo, holding that judges can usurp agency experts when it comes to implementation. The Court has also teed up one case with the potential to make holding government actors accountable for civil rights violations even harder—and another that could make discriminating against transgender Americans even easier.
All three branches of government have been warped by this Supreme Court’s actions, with no end in sight. Major judicial reforms are the only path to restoring the balance of powers, creating (or reinstating) mechanisms for presidential and judicial accountability, and repairing the judiciary—as well as regaining public trust in the courts and federal government. Power will shift in January, but conversation about the necessity of and path to judicial reform as a way of laying the legislative groundwork must continue.