CONGRESS COMMIT TO REFORMING THE SUPREME COURT TO PREVENT SUPERMAJORITY’S COUP
QUICK READ: Trump’s mass deportation regime is wreaking havoc on communities across America. ICE and other immigration agents, often with assistance of local law enforcement, are warrantlessly invading homes, targeting families at bus stops, and raiding workplaces, causing fear of deportation and detention in every part of immigrant families’ daily lives. These unconscionable acts must be addressed by those seeking election in the midterms.
CONTENTS:
BACKGROUND
The American people now clearly see how SCOTUS’ six far-right billionaire-bought supermajority, ignores the law and their precedents, rewrites the Constitution, and imposes its political and ideological agenda to secure victories unachievable through the legislative process for Trump’s authoritarian agenda, corporate interests, and right-wing agendas, while trampling on the rights and interests of ordinary people:
Allowing corporations unlimited money to buy elections;
Eliminating reproductive autonomy;
Elevating the rights of gun possessors and religious bigots;
Rewriting the 14th Amendment to allow Trump’s reelection;
Inventing presidential immunity out of thin air, freeing him from an election-eve criminal trial;
Demolishing the Voting Rights Act, despite the Fifteenth Amendment’s explicit authorization.
While these decisions significantly expanded presidential power, less noticeable was the supermajority’s systematic diminution of congressional power and its simultaneous consolidation and transfer of that power to itself:
Blatantly disregarding legislative history and inventing new judicial doctrines to overturn duly enacted laws;
Rejecting Congress’ authority to delegate power to administrative agencies and to rely on their expertise;
Permitting Trump to fire congressionally-created independent agency heads, without legal good cause.
While congressional candidates promise to improve our lives and make them more affordable, without court expansionsuch legislation will immediately be thrown out by SCOTUS’ supermajority.
Only then can Congress, using its Article 1 tools, enact the structural reforms needed to ensure delivery of justice without fear or favor—like term limits; binding enforceable ethics code; blind trusts and recusal rules; shadow docket controls; jurisdiction stripping or channeling, and supermajority requirements.
ACTION One: Call the Senate.
Script for Oregon Senators
SEN. MERKLEY: Portland office: 503-326-3386 | D.C. office: 202-224-3753
My name is [--] and I'm a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Congress cannot allow SCOTUS' far-right, six-justice, billionaire-bought supermajority to continue stripping away our rights and freedoms with impunity. While meaningfully rebalancing and rebuilding the Supreme Court cannot begin until Democrats control Congress and the White House, in the next Congress they can hold hearings, propose and try to pass the necessary legislation—showing the American people they’re serious about meaningful court reform. In the meantime, they can explain their reform plans to the American people and, during the lame duck session and beyond, use their power of the purse to demand cuts to SCOTUS’ budget and oppose any bill not meeting their demands.
SEN. WYDEN:
Portland office: 503-326-7525 | D.C. office: 202-224-5244
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Congress cannot allow SCOTUS' far-right, six-justice, billionaire-bought supermajority to continue stripping away our rights and freedoms with impunity. While meaningfully rebalancing and rebuilding the Supreme Court cannot begin until Democrats control Congress and the White House, in the next Congress they can hold hearings, propose and try to pass the necessary legislation—showing the American people they’re serious about meaningful court reform. In the meantime, they can explain their reform plans to the American people and, during the lame duck session and beyond, use their power of the purse to demand cuts to SCOTUS’ budget and oppose any bill not meeting their demands.
Script for Republican Senators
D.C switchboard: 202-224-3121
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], [state], [zip code].
Congress cannot allow SCOTUS' supermajority to continue stripping away our rights and freedoms with impunity. As your constituent, I demand that you speak about its destruction of the rule of law and the separation of powers and work across the aisle to pass the necessary reforms.
ACTION TWO: Call the House.
Script for Suzanne Bonamici (OR-01)
Oregon office: 503-469-6010 | DC office: 202-225-0855
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Congress cannot allow SCOTUS’ far-right, six-justice, billionaire-bought supermajority to continue stripping away our rights and freedoms with impunity. While meaningfully rebalancing and rebuilding the Supreme Court cannot begin until Democrats control Congress and the White House, in the next Congress they can hold hearings, propose and try to pass the necessary legislation—showing the American people they’re serious about meaningful court reform. In the meantime, they can explain their reform plans to the American people and, during the lame duck session and beyond, use their power of the purse to demand cuts to SCOTUS’ budget and oppose any bill not meeting their demands.
Script for Cliff Bentz (OR-02)
Medford office: 541-776-4646 | DC office: 202-225-6730
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Congress cannot allow SCOTUS' supermajority to continue stripping away our rights and freedoms with impunity. As your constituent, I demand that you speak about its destruction of the rule of law and the separation of powers and work across the aisle to pass the necessary reforms.
Script for Maxine Dexter (OR-03)
Oregon office: 503-231-2300 | DC office: 202-225-4811
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Congress cannot allow SCOTUS’ far-right, six-justice, billionaire-bought supermajority to continue stripping away our rights and freedoms with impunity. While meaningfully rebalancing and rebuilding the Supreme Court cannot begin until Democrats control Congress and the White House, in the next Congress they can hold hearings, propose and try to pass the necessary legislation—showing the American people they’re serious about meaningful court reform. In the meantime, they can explain their reform plans to the American people and, during the lame duck session and beyond, use their power of the purse to demand cuts to SCOTUS’ budget and oppose any bill not meeting their demands.
Script for Val Hoyle (OR-04)
Eugene office: 541-465-6732 | DC office: 202-225-6416
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Congress cannot allow SCOTUS’ far-right, six-justice, billionaire-bought supermajority to continue stripping away our rights and freedoms with impunity. While meaningfully rebalancing and rebuilding the Supreme Court cannot begin until Democrats control Congress and the White House, in the next Congress they can hold hearings, propose and try to pass the necessary legislation—showing the American people they’re serious about meaningful court reform. In the meantime, they can explain their reform plans to the American people and, during the lame duck session and beyond, use their power of the purse to demand cuts to SCOTUS’ budget and oppose any bill not meeting their demands.
Script for Janelle Bynum (OR-05)
Oregon City office: 503-387-8651 |DC office: 202-225-5711
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Congress cannot allow SCOTUS’ far-right, six-justice, billionaire-bought supermajority to continue stripping away our rights and freedoms with impunity. While meaningfully rebalancing and rebuilding the Supreme Court cannot begin until Democrats control Congress and the White House, in the next Congress they can hold hearings, propose and try to pass the necessary legislation—showing the American people they’re serious about meaningful court reform. In the meantime, they can explain their reform plans to the American people and, during the lame duck session and beyond, use their power of the purse to demand cuts to SCOTUS’ budget and oppose any bill not meeting their demands.
Script for Andrea Salinas (OR-06)
Salem office: 503-385-0906 | DC office: 202-225-5643
My name is [–] and I’m a constituent from [city], Oregon [zip code].
Congress cannot allow SCOTUS’ far-right, six-justice, billionaire-bought supermajority to continue stripping away our rights and freedoms with impunity. While meaningfully rebalancing and rebuilding the Supreme Court cannot begin until Democrats control Congress and the White House, in the next Congress they can hold hearings, propose and try to pass the necessary legislation—showing the American people they’re serious about meaningful court reform. In the meantime, they can explain their reform plans to the American people and, during the lame duck session and beyond, use their power of the purse to demand cuts to SCOTUS’ budget and oppose any bill not meeting their demands.
FURTHER READING
The Supreme Court’s Quiet Coup
The Case for Supreme Court Reform
Supreme Court Repeals the 20th Century
Next on the Docket: Dismantling Democracy
The People vs. the Supreme Court
Six Solutions to Fix the Supreme Court
6 Reforms We Need to Restore Trust in the Supreme Court
Think Its Time to Reform the Supreme Court? Here’s How
How Congress Can Reclaim Democracy From a Supreme Court Dedicated to Undermining It
John Roberts Believes in an America That Doesn’t Exist
Brett Kavanaugh’s Imaginary Immigration Stops Opinion Gets More Embarrassing Every Day
Oil Companies Are Begging the Supreme Court to Let Them Off the Hook for Climate Change
Congress Should Strip the Supreme Court of Its Power to Greenlight Blocked Executions
