Fixing the Supreme Court

Electoral-vote.com has some decent ideas on how we can fix the rogue Supreme Court.

Can the Supreme Court Be Reined In?:

Jurisdiction stripping:

In other words, Congress has the clear authority to strip SCOTUS of its appellate authority in almost any way Congress so decides. Elections? Nope. Abortion? Nope. Guns? Nope. Plaintiff is a redhead? Nope. Congress can make whatever exceptions it wants to. Could Congress do something stupid? It could, and has upon occasion, but every 2 years the voters can replace the entire House and one-third of the Senate if they don't like the job Congress is doing.

One obvious first exception is to ban SCOTUS from taking on any cases involving the Court itself or any of the justices. The principle here is: Nemo Judex in causa sua (No one shall be a judge in their own case). To give this teeth, the law could make it a federal felony for a justice to vote on any case taken in defiance of Congress' ban, with a penalty of 3-36 months in prison, to provide for plea bargains (which might involve resigning to get a shorter sentence). The Constitution does not state that justices serve for life. It states that justices serve during "good Behaviour." This new law could state that being convicted of a federal felony does not constitute "good Behaviour." So there would now be two ways to remove a justice: impeachment and conviction or the justice being convicted of a federal felony.

While it is at it, Congress could also take back a lot of the power the president has in emergencies by passing a law saying a presidential emergency declaration is valid for only 7 days, after which both chambers of Congress have to confirm the emergency and agree on how long the special emergency presidential powers last. Would any of the above be bold? Sure, but unlike the actions of the current administration, it would be bold and legal at the same time.

Written on December 09, 2025