By Ashlee Banks
Special to the AFRO
U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, (D-Ga-4) and other members of Congress have launched the “Court Reform Now Task Force” to restore balance and fairness to the U.S. Supreme Court.
U.S. Reps. Johnson stated that he, Jasmine Crockett, (D-Texas-30), Madeleine Dean, (D-Pa-4), and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), launched this task force to bring “awareness, educate members and staff and elevate debate around key pieces of court reform legislation to fix and rebalance the court.”
The House Democrats aim to introduce multiple pieces of legislation. The Judiciary Act would expand the number of justices appointed to the bench. The Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal and Transparency Act (SCERT) aims to require the court to adopt a binding code of ethics and transparency. Finally, the TERM Act would limit the number of years that justices can serve. At this time, justices serve lifetime appointments.
“We need to unpack this court,” Johnson told the AFRO. “This court is poised to do major damage to our freedom and liberty with rulings that are pending as we speak.”
“We have to rebalance the court to take the edge off of this extremism that exists,” said Johnson, adding that the country needs to eliminate lifetime appointments “so that we have a system where the justices” are held accountable for their actions.
This task force has come as the court’s credibility has been called into question in recent months.
In April 2023, it was revealed that Chief Justice John Robert’s wife raked in millions of dollars after assisting high-ranking lawyers who later brought their cases before the Supreme Court justices.
In April 2023, Justice Clarence Thomas came under fire for neglecting to disclose lavish gifts he received from Harlan Crow, a wealthy GOP donor over the course of his tenure as a Supreme Court justice. Most recently Justice Samuel Alito faced scrutiny after pictures surfaced showing an American flag flying upside-down at his residence in Alexandria, VA. days before President Joe Biden’s inauguration in Jan. 2021. The upside-down flag is a symbol of the “Stop the Steal” movement which has been widely used by former President Donald Trump supporters after the Republican leader lost his bid for the oval office to Biden.
U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, (R-Fla-19) told the AFRO that the U.S. Supreme Court does not need to adopt a code of ethics.
Donalds then went on to address the Justice Alito flag incident, stating, “First of all didn’t do it, his wife did it.”
“The flag upside is a sign of duress. That’s what it mostly means,” said Donalds. “The court should not be investigated or adopt a code of ethics.”
Despite some opposition from Republican colleagues, Johnson and other House Democrats aim to introduce the court reform legislation this session and are hopeful that they will gain bipartisan support to pass the statutes into law.
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