Majority Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The Need For Supreme Court Accountability And Congress’s Constitutional Authority To Exercise Checks On The Judiciary

Congress has the authority to exercise strong checks on the judiciary through legislation, and Congress has the authority to speak on constitutional issues

Washington, D.C. – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor on the need for accountability in the Supreme Court and Congress’s constitutional authority to exercise strong checks on the Judiciary. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

No democracy can hope to survive if it cannot ensure accountability. That’s a hallmark of democracy and American democracy, in particular. This was the stern warning handed down to us by the framers of the Constitution.

Accountability is how power is checked, how consent of the governed is secured, and how trust between the people and their institutions is preserved.

Later today, President Biden will speak at the LBJ Presidential Library on the need for accountability for the U.S. Supreme Court, where it is desperately needed.

The President published an op-ed in the Washington Post outlining his ideas, and will expand on them this evening.

I believe the President is right to say aloud what many Americans already think, that the Supreme Court is a morass.

I am particularly pleased President Biden called for undoing the damage of the Court’s recent immunity decision. I think Congress should pursue the idea through legislation, and I’m working with my colleagues on the best way to proceed.

A few years ago, the Supreme Court was easily the most trusted institution in government, but today confidence in the court is at an all-time low. For over a year, Americans have learned how some Justices have accepted millions of dollars in lavish gifts from right wing benefactors that at the same time had business before the court that were funding these groups to pursue their right wing agenda before the court, and all of it in total secrecy, and possibly— possibly in violation of the law.

At the same time, the MAGA Justices have rammed through a flurry of hard right decisions, reversing decades of precedent. They almost seem to ignore it from time to time when they want to on reproductive freedoms, affirmative action, gerrymandering, administrative law, and so much more. These decisions, especially on choice, are way outside of the mainstream.

Then one month ago, the MAGA Justices ruled that the President of the United States is, in essence, above the law when it comes to his “official acts.” The conservative majority’s ruling was the very antithesis of the kind of accountability our framers envisioned. The MAGA Court more or less echoed Richard Nixon’s infamous view that “when the President does it, that means it’s not illegal.” These fringe rulings and ethical scandals are not the signs of a healthy Supreme Court. They are the signs of a court run amok.

The good news is that the Constitution provides a remedy to the Supreme Court’s current morass: Congress has the authority to exercise strong checks on the judiciary through legislation, and Congress has the authority to speak on constitutional issues – the Constitution is clear, the Supreme Court does not get the final word.

An option I am considering is drawing up legislation clarifying that the President is NOT immune from violations of federal law. One of the Justices recently claimed there is no provision in the constitution that gives Congress authority to regulate the courts. I respectfully suggest that this Justice re-read the constitution, because it’s plain as day that Congress is well within its right to conduct oversight.

Accountability shouldn’t be a dirty word when we talk about the Supreme Court. Americans across the ideological spectrum agree that checks and balances are necessary for our system to thrive, and they agree those checks should apply to the Supreme Court just as they apply to the other branches of government. It's no wonder the court's positive ratings are at an all-time low. If they can't straighten it out themselves, Congress should.

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