House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) and former Senate Judiciary chairmen Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) sent letters to former leaders of President Joe Biden's Supreme Court reform commission, requesting documents and communications from the now-defunct judiciary focus group.
Biden formed the commission in April 2021 and was tasked to provide analysis for and against reforming the Supreme Court after the administration faced months of pressure by liberal lawmakers and advocates calling to consider expanding the size of the nine-member high court. The commission ultimately concluded with recommendations for ethics and greater transparency but said there was "profound disagreement" about court expansions or term limits.
Although the commission has since disbanded, "questions remain about the Commission’s work, deliberations, and true purpose,” the three Republican lawmakers wrote in the letters to Robert Bauer and Cristina Rodriguez, former co-chairpeople of Biden's commission.
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The trio of lawmakers acknowledged the final report avoided an embrace of "packing" the Supreme Court but outlined their concerns about some members on the commission, including Georgetown Law professor Caroline Fredrickson, who they said "continued to publicly advocate for packing the Court" after the report was released in December 2021.
The letters request documents about a range of discussions had by the commission that were not included in the final report, such as communications with all of its members, including academic colleagues and assistants, whether there were communications with top Justice Department officials, communications with potential members who weren't appointed, and whether there were any communications with liberal or Democratic-aligned organizations such as the American Constitution Society and Demand Justice, among others.
“The Commission’s work and ultimate report occurred during unprecedented and unrelenting attacks on the Court and its independence," the GOP lawmakers wrote, referring to then-Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's (D-NY) comments about specific justices on the steps of the Supreme Court in March 2020.
Outside the Supreme Court, Schumer said: "I want to tell you, Gorsuch; I want to tell you, Kavanaugh: You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions."
Biden's formation of the commission in April 2021 was part of fulfilling a campaign promise he made on the trail ahead of his victory over Trump in November 2020.
Calls for packing the court have waned since Republicans regained the House after the November midterm elections, which creates a serious roadblock for Congress to pass any proposals for court-packing or term limits. However, Democrats have recently backed new legislation to promote stricter ethics guidelines for the Supreme Court justices, such as a proposal to establish a statutory ethics officer and a process for filing complaints against the justices for violating ethics rules.
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As it stands, federal judges adhere to the Code of Conduct for United States Judges, which was first introduced in 1973 and is consulted by the nine justices on the bench.
Both Graham and Grassley were former chairmen on the Senate Judiciary Committee.