The Supreme Court is too powerful and anti-democratic. Here's how we can scale back its influence.
University of Chicago professor Ryan Doerfler explains how to restrain “judicial review,” the Court’s power to strike down laws.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/21451471/supreme-court-justice-constitution-ryan-doerfler
Two law professors, Ryan Doerfler of the University of Chicago and Samuel Moyn of Yale, recently released a paper laying out a way to “democratize” the Supreme Court by weakening its ability to strike down federal laws as unconstitutional (an ability usually referred to as “judicial review”). In order to pass transformative progressive legislation like Medicare-for-all or a Green New Deal and ensure the Court does not tamper with them, Doerfler and Moyn propose either stripping the Court of jurisdiction over certain legislation or imposing a supermajority requirement under which a 7-2 majority would be required for the Court to overturn acts of Congress.
When people use the term “judicial review,” usually what people are referring to is the judicial evaluation of either legislation or executive activity for conformity with the Constitution. Because the Constitution has legal priority over legislation and executive actions, courts in the US will decline to enforce either if the Constitution conflicts with them.
A whole lot of judicial activity is not judicial review, including, for example, review of executive actions for conformity with statutes when making regulations.
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