Making Daily Headlines · Page 7
Supreme Court Reform Returns to Congress With Plenty of Proposals and No Guarantee
· New York time
Democrats may push forward proposals to reshape the Supreme Court after winning majorities in the House and Senate. Members of the party have offered a variety of measures over the years, and the new political alignment gives those ideas another opportunity to reach the congressional agenda. A majority can determine what gets discussed, but it does not turn every proposal into law. The range of ideas also means that lawmakers must decide not merely whether to pursue reform, but which changes to support. The court's role makes that debate especially consequential. Proposals about its future affect an institution that interprets the law while remaining outside ordinary electoral contests. Supporters and opponents can therefore argue about both the substance of a change and the political circumstances in which it is proposed. The midterms have altered the balance of power in Congress, not erased those disagreements. For Democrats, the immediate opportunity is to bring long-discussed measures back into view. The harder task is assembling support for a particular course and navigating the legislative process. Washington is adept at keeping a proposal alive through several election cycles. Whether the new majority can move any of those plans beyond the familiar stage of discussion is the question now facing the lawmakers who have kept them on the shelf.
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