Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) speaks with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) before the first Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government on Thursday, February 9, 2023 to discuss politicization of the federal government and attacks on civil liberties.
Republican lawmakers on Friday requested the co-chairs of President Biden’s Supreme Court commission turn over a trove of documents related to their work.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and two former Senate Judiciary Committee chairs, Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), pointed in their letters to growing calls from progressives to add more justices to the Supreme Court.
“While the Commission’s work has concluded, questions remain about the Commission’s work, deliberations, and true purpose,” the lawmakers wrote.
Facing pressure from the left, Biden tasked the 34-member bipartisan commission with exploring possible court reforms. The group disbanded in late 2021, after issuing a report expressing “profound disagreement” on controversial proposals like court packing.
The lawmakers on Friday asked Bob Bauer and Cristina Rodríguez, the commission’s two co-chairs who are law professors at New York University and Yale Law School, to turn over communications they had with commission members, the White House, the Justice Department and a number of progressive judicial advocacy groups.
The letter, first reported by Politico, asks for the documents by March 10.
The Hill has reached out to Bauer and Rodríguez for comment. Bauer has since represented Biden in the investigation into classified documents found at his home and office.
The commission’s formation followed liberals lambasting Senate Republicans for confirming Justice Amy Coney Barrett — former President Trump’s third nominee — days ahead of the 2020 presidential election to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one of the court’s liberals.
It came after Republicans in 2016, citing the presidential election later that year, refused to hold a hearing for Merrick Garland, whom former President Obama nominated to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
The recent divisive confirmation fights have culminated in a 6-3 conservative majority that has since overturned Roe v. Wade and expanded gun rights.
"الأردن محق في شيء واحد: هناك جهد على قدم وساق لتقويض استقلالية المحكمة ،" تابع ليبتون-لوبيت. "لكن هذه المكالمة تأتي من داخل المنزل ، حيث يتواطأ القضاة بشكل صارخ مع المصالح الخاصة للجمهوريين وينتهكون الأعراف الأخلاقية".
كانت الانتقادات المماثلة هي التي دفعت بايدن ، المرشح آنذاك ، إلى التعهد بإنشاء لجنة لدراسة مختلف المقترحات لإصلاح المحاكم.
في نهاية المطاف ، لم تتخذ اللجنة موقفًا بشأن التعبئة في المحكمة ، وبدلاً من ذلك تتبع تاريخ مقترحات إصلاح المحكمة بينما تشير فقط في بعض الأحيان إلى مجالات الاتفاق بين الحزبين ، مثل حدود فترة ولاية القضاة.