Last week, President Joe Biden used the op-ed pages of The Washington Post and a speech at the LBJ Presidential Library to call for long-overdue court reform. Last Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, along with 34 other Senate Democrats, did the same.
Schumer’s No Kings Act dovetails with but doesn’t duplicate Biden’s proposed reforms. More importantly, the bill aggressively pushes Congress to do its job and to restore a small semblance of checks and balances to American democracy.
As much as people have called for Biden to helm court reform, those reforms can proceed only through the legislative branch or constitutional amendments. The president's backing is necessary but not enough. Seeing Senate Democrats make a move is a welcome sign they are embracing the power of messaging bills this election season. The No Kings Act has no hope of passing at this juncture, but that’s not the point. It’s a statement of position, and it comes out swinging.
