Biden to sign executive order for creation of Presidential Commission on Supreme Court

President Biden has disclosed plan to issue an executive order to create the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States.

This was disclosed in a statement issued from the White House on Friday April 9, 2021.

According to the statement, the commission will comprise a bipartisan group of experts on the Court and the Court reform debate.

“In addition to legal and other scholars, the Commissioners include former federal judges and practitioners who have appeared before the Court, as well as advocates for the reform of democratic institutions and of the administration of justice,” the statement reads.

It adds, “The expertise represented on the Commission includes constitutional law, history and political science.”

It further states that the Commission’s purpose is to provide an analysis of the principal arguments in the contemporary public debate for and against Supreme Court reform, including an appraisal of the merits and legality of particular reform proposals.

“The topics it will examine include the genesis of the reform debate; the Court’s role in the Constitutional system; the length of service and turnover of justices on the Court; the
membership and size of the Court; and the Court’s case selection, rules, and practices, the statement says.

To ensure that the Commission’s report is comprehensive and informed by a diverse spectrum of views, it will hold public meetings to hear the views of other experts, and groups and interested individuals with varied perspectives on the issues it will be examining.

The Executive Order directs that the Commission complete its report within 180 days of its first public meeting.

This action is part of the Biden administration’s commitment to closely study measures to improve the federal judiciary, including those that would expand access the court system.

The two co-chairs of this Commission are Bob Bauer, Professor of Practice and Distinguished Scholar in Residence at New York University School of Law and a former White House Counsel, as well as Yale Law School Professor Cristina Rodriguez, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice.