Politics

Mitch McConnell stole Supreme Court nomination from Barack Obama and gave it to Donald Trump

Attempt to reform the Supreme Court occurred in the late 1930s

Public support for Supreme Court–packing plan diminished after Justice Van Devanter retired

In 1956 nineteen senators and seventy-seven congresspeople signed Southern Manifesto

President Roosevelt proposed bill that would add six new seats to the Court

Supreme Court has been treated as ultimate expositor of Constitution since 1950s

Methods used to resolve constitutional question include original intent textual meaning and historical practice

Professor Michael Klarman notes after Marbury Court failed to invalidate single state law until 1810 and second federal law until 1857 judicial review power mattered little until Court acquired sufficient political clout

Political-power arguments take the position that it is accep

Reformers propose variety of modifications to Court's power of judicial review to address problems

Debate around jurisdiction-stripping proposals defies brief summary because it encompasses diverse elements

Professor Richard Fallon disagrees as long as some assumptions are true judicial review is reasonably defensible within terms of liberal political theory

Regarding selection process potential nominee's partisan affiliation plays important role in judicial selection in both Supreme Court and lower federal courts

Judicial supremacy empowers Court to undermine or invalidate legislative and agency action as inconsistent with Constitution

Professor Larry Kramer concludes power of judicial review was never imagined

Professors Saikrishna Prakash and John Yoo disagree concluding there is wealth of evidence Founders believed courts could exercise some form of judicial review over federal statutes

Professor Keith Whittington writes it is embarrassment that judicial review was not explicitly incorporated into Constitution's text

Professor Jeremy Waldron thinks judicial review is inappropriate for reasonably democratic societies ordinary legislative procedures are enough additional layer of final review by courts adds little except disenfranchisement and legalistic obfuscation of moral issues at stake as long as other branches function properly

Another reason for reforming Court is process for selecting Justices causes Court's decisions to be influenced by wrong factors

Politicians now treat Court as prize to be contested which they do by engaging in gamesmanship appointing younger judges to maximize their life tenure and framing nomination hearings as political contests