[philips]

I share your cynicism. Do you see any way out?

I feel the same way about the supreme court justices today as I do about Senators for lightly populated states: people operating with little oversight and with little to no accountability to the people who they hold power over. The bigger problem with the Supreme Court is that, largely, the political calculus is mostly cemented for life of the justice.

The only way out I see for the Supreme Court is a Congress and President who are focused on fixing the issue. But, it still feels general awareness of the Supreme Court issues are still to low and not universally felt- maybe in another 2-4 years.

The cynic in me wishes the Democrat appointed judges would start openly taking such large and egregious bribes too to make judicial term limits a bipartisan issue.

[kelseyfrog]

I fundamentally see this as a consequence of the original sin of Senate. Article I, Section 3, Clause 1 and Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 work together to make the Supreme Court a reflection of state values rather than popular values. Any time the two drift apart - due to changing popular opinion, migration, etc, the difference is reflected in political tension. There's no viable escape hatch for popular grievances against the supreme court (impeachment is non-viable again, because the Senate structure) which puts us in a precarious situation.

I don't see a viable way forward since amendments also follow a state structure given Article Five.

[otterley]

> The only way out I see for the Supreme Court is a Congress and President who are focused on fixing the issue.

This is absolutely true. Not so much about the President, who has no legislative authority, but Congress, to be sure.

Congress seems to have abdicated its duty to ensure legislation is clear and consistent and evolves with the times. Many of the SCOTUS opinions I've read--perhaps a majority--get mired in trying to read the tea leaves about Congressional intent, or are frustrated because the parties are using the Court to solve problems that Congress could and should have solved.

[archagon]

There needs to be critical mass for protest and disruption. Palpable anger out on the streets. Unfortunately, we don’t have that right now.