From composition to term length, from staggered terms to an enforceable code of ethics.
In 1869, the U.S. population was about 38,000,000, and the union consisted of 37 states.
Also in 1869, Congress set the number of U.S. Supreme Court justices at nine, “one for each of the judicial circuits established in 1866.”
Today, our population is 342,000,000 – almost a 10-fold increase. We have 50 states (a 35% increase), several territories and 13 judicial circuits. But there are still only nine members of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Most of those members (five) were appointed this century by two men who did not win the popular vote when elected president:
- Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., 70 (George W. Bush)
- Samuel A. Alito, Jr., 75 (George W. Bush)
- Neil Gorsuch, 58 (Trump)
- Brett Kavanaugh, 60 (Trump)
- Amy Coney Barrett, 53 (Trump)
This Court has struck down legal precedent, overturning Roe v Wade (2022) and approving limits on agency power (2024), for example. These decisions fly in the face of “stare decisis,” which is Latin for “to stand by things decided.” This cornerstone of US jurisprudence “promotes consistency and predictability in the law.” As nominees, the justices swore under oath to uphold precedent on cases where they, instead, backtracked, like Roe v Wade.
Furthermore, the Court is poised to overturn independent agencies (first enacted in 1887) that are accountable to Congress not the President. The Court is considering overturning birthright citizenship, the law since 1868 (14th Amendment) which was upheld by the Court in 1898.
Moreover, the SCOTUS has exonerated in advance criminal acts undertaken by the president assuming they are “official” (2024). Thus the Court has theoretically placed President Donald Trump outside of legal repercussions for murdering almost 100 people in small boats, primarily in the Caribbean.
The Supreme Court is a powerful institution whose decisions affect every day Americans, not just the president.
