“- Protecting the Right to Vote”
Stronger Voter ID laws?
“- Reforming our campaign finance system”
Unions get to plow as much money as they want into the election process. Corporations not a dime (how you gonna overturn Citizen’s United?)
“- Empowering the national popular vote by abolishing the Electoral College”
Mob rule, anybody?
“- Protecting the independence and credibility of the Supreme Court”
Other than make SCOTUS an elected position (which really doesn’t do this either) appointment is still the only option.
Other than make SCOTUS an elected position (which really doesn’t do this either) appointment is still the only option.“- Protecting the independence and credibility of the Supreme Court”
I think the 2016 precedent is very good: before the election, each presidential candidate publishes names of potential SCOTUS nominees. Then the Senate confirms them on an up-or-down simple majority vote. If the president selects some whom he did not publicly suggest before he got elected, it should take a supermajority to confirm. 55%, perhaps.I would regularize SCOTUS terms by fixing the size of SCOTUS at 11 justices, and providing that each president name 2 justices (one at a time, so that one justice would be senior to the other) at the start of his term. Thus, the most-senior (in service time) justices would retire “simultaneously” as needed to respect the 11-justice limit. The least senior retired justice would, unless blocked by a 55% senate vote, resume service until the succeeding presidential election after a justice died in office or retired early. And similarly for recusals.
This would establish a 22 year term for SCOTUS justices, and would mean that each two-term POTUS would have a legacy of 4/11 of the justices on SCOTUS for 18 years, and 2/11 of the justices on SCOTUS for eight years (the 4 years before the start of his second term, and the 4 years starting 22 years after the start of his first term).