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Draft:Court Curbing

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As a function of checks against the Supreme Court of the United States levied by legislative action, court curbing seeks to maintain a Court insulated from partisanship and political coalitions. Curbing takes place if congress agrees the Court is vulnerable to constitutional turbulence.[1] Congress then introduces curbing bills to signal the Court to retreat from politically untenable doctrinal positions, if passed, these pieces of legislation can curtail or indirectly implicate judicial powers. Examples may include court packing, jurisdiction-stripping, adopting a system that would "balance" Court membership, etc.[2]

Examples

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Federal

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Throughout American history, there have been approximately one-hundred and sixty five instances of court curbing bills introduced in congress; not including resolutions or amendments. Though a small percent (5%) of curbing bills are ratified,[3] this can be attributed to politicians in congress leveraging curbing bills as a channel to express personal and constituent disagreement with Court actions.[4]

The first attempt to curtail the Court's power took place in 1802 to impeach Justice Samuel Chase over friction centered on Federalist v. Jeffersonian conflict.[3] It was unsuccessful.

References

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  1. ^ Handberg, Roger; Hill, Harold F. (1980). "Court Curbing, Court Reversals, and Judicial Review: The Supreme Court versus Congress". Law & Society Review. 14 (2): 309–322. doi:10.2307/3053315. ISSN 0023-9216. JSTOR 3053315.
  2. ^ Friedman, Barry (2023). "What it Takes to Curb the Court". repository.law.wisc.edu. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  3. ^ a b Nagel, Stuart S. (June 1965). "Court-Curbing Periods in American History". Vanderbilt Law Review. 18 (3): 3 – via Constitutional Law Commons.
  4. ^ Hager, Lisa; Uribe-McGuire, Alicia (December 2023). "Judicial Guardians: Court-Curbing Bills, the Supreme Court, and Judicial Review". Journal of Law and Courts. 1 (22): 2. doi:10.1017/jlc.2023.22 – via Cambridge University Press.