The Washington Post reports:

One bill proposes increasing the number of Supreme Court justices from nine to 13. Another would cut their lifetime terms to 18 years. Others would create an enforceable ethics code and place standards on how the court rules from its relatively opaque “shadow docket.”

The latest wave of proposals to overhaul the Supreme Court have reached something of a fever pitch over the past few months, as Democrats grow increasingly frustrated with the court’s rightward turn. While the court blocked several of President Donald Trump’s key initiatives this past term, it also delivered significant conservative victories that pared back the 1965 Voting Rights Act, loosened campaign finance rules and increased presidential power.

Democrats’ anger is fueled by a conviction that many of these rulings are more about politics than the law.

“There’s constant and building dismay about the increasingly appalling record of the court,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island), who recently introduced a term limits bill, said in an interview. “And I think the continuing interest in reform springs from continued dismay and concern about the court’s misbehavior.”

The pitches coincide with record levels of disapproval of how the Supreme Court is doing its job, as well as perceptions that the justices are ruling based on their ideology — a viewpoint largely embraced by liberals, according to a July Washington Post-Ipsos poll.

Those perceptions have only magnified as the justices have weighed in on issues that could directly affect the upcoming midterm elections. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) said Thursday that there are a “variety of different options that are on the table, and I think we can’t foreclose on any single one of them.” [Continue reading…]