Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Adding justices isn’t the only proposal for reforming the Supreme Court

Supreme Court reforms

Members of the Supreme Court attend the 2022 State of the Union address.

Saul Loeb - Pool/Getty Images

The recent leak of a draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade has sparked discussion about changes to the Supreme Court’s operations and structure.

The idea drawing the most attention is expanding the court beyond nine members. People on the left say an expansion is necessary to rebalance the court after Republican presidents and senators have ensured a conservative majority for years to come. The right considers “court packing” a political ploy that would damage the institution.

But there are other potential reforms that advocates suggest would improve government transparency, reduce partisanship and strengthen the Supreme Court.


Term limits

The Framers determined Supreme Court justices “shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour,” which was determined to mean may serve for life if they so choose. By removing justices from the election process, in theory, their selection would be separated from the political process.

However, as the confirmation process has become politicized and even a significant portion of presidential campaigns, some observers have advocated establishing term limits for justices.

A leading proposal calls for justices to serve 18-year terms. Under that plan, justices who complete their terms become “senior justices” who could serve on lower courts and occasionally fill in at the top court.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Gabe Roth, executive director of Fix the Courts, explained the proposal in an op-ed for The Fulcrum:

The elegance of the 18-year plan is that it allows each president to nominate two of the nine justices per four-year term, with no exceptions. In the case of an unexpected vacancy — because of death or medical emergency, say — a senior justice would fill in until the expiration of the term of the departed justice. For example, when [Antonin] Scalia died four years ago, the court would not have been reduced to eight justices; rather, the most recently retired justice, John Paul Stevens, would have taken his place until the next justice was confirmed.

Cameras in the courtroom

C-SPAN began broadcasting live congressional proceedings in 1979, but nothing similar has ever been tried in the Supreme Court. Same-day audio recordings of oral arguments are made available by the court, but the United States is a video-centric nation (not just TV, but now with YouTube, Tik Tok and more), and reformers believe live video would make court proceedings more accessible to the American public.

Opponents counter that live video could negatively impact court proceedings because justices might play to the camera. (Some people have argued that C-SPAN has made Congress worse because lawmakers may be inclined to plan their remarks around soundbites rather than reasoned debate and collaboration.)

Many of the current justices expressed interest in, if not outright support for, cameras in their courtroom when they were up for confirmation. Since then, some have changed their minds.

Here’s Clarence Thomas during his 1991 confirmation hearings:

'I have no objection beyond a concern that the cameras be as unobtrusive as possible...It's good for the American public to see what's going on in there.'

But by 2006 his opinion had shifted:

'It runs the risk of undermining the manner in which we consider the cases. Certainly it will change our proceedings. And I don't think for the better.'

Code of ethics

The executive branch, including the White House, as the Office of Government Ethics. The House and Senate each have their own ethics committees (as well as the independent Office of Congressional Ethics for the House). And the judicial branch follows the Code of Conduct of United States Judges … except those rules do not apply to the Supreme Court.

Reform advocates argue that an ethics code should be created for the justices to protect against improper behavior.

Fix the Courts, an organization devoted to nonpartisan reforms to the federal courts, see this as a critical component of its plan, writing on its website:

“Research compiled from Fix the Court points out that while none of the justices has committed a removal offense, all nine of them are culpable of various ethical oversights, from leaving assets off their annual financial disclosure reports to speaking at partisan fundraisers to ruling on cases despite credible conflicts of interest.”

A number of bills have been introduced in Congress to create an ethics code for the Supreme Court, but most of them have not progressed. However, the For the People Act, which passed the House before getting blocked by the filibuster in the Senate, would direct the Judi­cial Confer­ence of the United States to craft an ethics code that includes the Supreme Court.

Read More

Congress Bill Spotlight: Preventing Presidential Inaugurations on MLK Day, Like Trump’s

Donald Trump takes office for his second term as the 47th President of the United States.

Getty Images, Pool

Congress Bill Spotlight: Preventing Presidential Inaugurations on MLK Day, Like Trump’s

The Fulcrum introduces Congress Bill Spotlight, a weekly report by Jesse Rifkin, focusing on the noteworthy legislation of the thousands introduced in Congress. Rifkin has written about Congress for years, and now he's dissecting the most interesting bills you need to know about, but that often don't get the right news coverage.

President Donald Trump falsely claimed his January 6, 2021 speech preceding the Capitol Building riot “had more people” in attendance than Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

Keep ReadingShow less
Just the Facts: Trump Administration Pauses International Student Visas
woman wearing blue denim jacket holding book

Just the Facts: Trump Administration Pauses International Student Visas

The Fulcrum strives to approach news stories with an open mind and skepticism, striving to present our readers with a broad spectrum of viewpoints through diligent research and critical thinking. As best we can, we remove personal bias from our reporting and seek a variety of perspectives in both our news gathering and selection of opinion pieces. However, before our readers can analyze varying viewpoints, they must have the facts.

Has the Trump administration put a hold on issuing student visas for this coming fall?

The Trump administration has paused new student visa interviews as part of an effort to expand social media screening for applicants. The State Department has instructed U.S. embassies and consulates to stop scheduling new student and exchange visitor visa appointments until further guidance is issued. However, previously scheduled interviews will still proceed.

Keep ReadingShow less
A Community Response to Disabled Gun Violence Survivors

A Community Response to Disabled Gun Violence Survivors

“What did you see once you got shot?” That might not be one of the first things victims of gun violence are asked, but it was the first question Access Living asked in a survey used to address and assess the many difficulties survivors of gun violence faced.

The nation’s gun violence crisis continues to be a significant threat to people’s lives, as it has claimed over 10,000 lives in the United States every year for the past 10 years, according to Gun Violence Archive. Only three months into 2025, there have been over 100 shootings reported in Chicago, and this will probably continue to rise, as in the country in 2023, on average, 118 people died of gun violence a day. According to the National Institute for Health Care Management Foundation, for every person who dies due to gun violence, more than two survive, usually with significant lifelong physical injuries that they have to learn to live with, along with the mental trauma of the incident.

Keep ReadingShow less
Improving Infrastructure In Washington To Benefit Both People and Nature

The 50: Washington

Improving Infrastructure In Washington To Benefit Both People and Nature

The 50is a four-year multimedia project in which the Fulcrum visits different communities across all 50 states to learn what motivated them to vote in the 2024 presidential election and see how the Donald Trump administration is meeting those concerns and hopes.

Washington State has historically fluctuated between Republican and Democratic preferences. While it was considered a Republican-leaning swing state until the 1980s, the political landscape shifted significantly in the following decades. Since 1988, the Democratic Party has won every presidential election in Washington, consistently achieving victory by double-digit margins since 2008.

Keep ReadingShow less