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Maybe it's time for Congress to consider taking back some of that control?
Steve Vladeck
@steve_vladeck
For its first 101 years, and most of its first 135 years, #SCOTUS decided the cases Congress *told it* to decide.
It's only a post-1925 innovation that the Justices have so much control over their docket. Maybe it's time for Congress to consider taking back some of that control?
To be clear, this is *not* about "jurisdiction-stripping." It's the opposite: this is the third straight Term #SCOTUS decided < 60 cases — a total it hadn't fallen below since 1864. To me, having Congress take more of a role in shaping the Court's docket can only be a good thing.
Many will want more aggressive reforms. Fair enough. My only point is that here is relatively low-hanging fruit that ought not to be seen as an *attack* on the Court, but rather the salutary and long-overdue restoration of a healthier interbranch dynamic:
Opinion | There's something weird going down at the Supreme Court this term
Docket control; “circuit-riding”; their own building; pensions; &c. The Justices *depended* on Congress for so much of our history — and so were necessarily interested in maintaining a healthy inter-branch dialogue. I’m hard-pressed to see the downside of restoring that dialogue.
@steve_vladeck
For its first 101 years, and most of its first 135 years, #SCOTUS decided the cases Congress *told it* to decide.
It's only a post-1925 innovation that the Justices have so much control over their docket. Maybe it's time for Congress to consider taking back some of that control?
To be clear, this is *not* about "jurisdiction-stripping." It's the opposite: this is the third straight Term #SCOTUS decided < 60 cases — a total it hadn't fallen below since 1864. To me, having Congress take more of a role in shaping the Court's docket can only be a good thing.
Many will want more aggressive reforms. Fair enough. My only point is that here is relatively low-hanging fruit that ought not to be seen as an *attack* on the Court, but rather the salutary and long-overdue restoration of a healthier interbranch dynamic:
Opinion | There's something weird going down at the Supreme Court this term
Docket control; “circuit-riding”; their own building; pensions; &c. The Justices *depended* on Congress for so much of our history — and so were necessarily interested in maintaining a healthy inter-branch dialogue. I’m hard-pressed to see the downside of restoring that dialogue.
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