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Cake day: June 13th, 2023

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  • The idea that one branch limiting another requires “popular appeal or a Constitutional Amendment” is a bit misleading. The Constitution already provides the Legislative Branch with various checks on the Judiciary. For example, Article III, Section 1 gives Congress the authority to structure the federal judiciary and set the number of Supreme Court Justices. Congress has used this power in the past to both expand and contract the size of the Court (changing the number of justices in the 1800s). This can happen without an amendment or mass public support.

    Wyden’s proposal to expand the Supreme Court to 15 justices over 12 years is another example of using these constitutional mechanisms. The proposal also includes measures to increase transparency, such as requiring a supermajority to overturn acts of Congress, automatic Senate calendar placement for stalled nominations, and stricter financial disclosures for justices. None of these steps require changing the Constitution; they rely on existing legislative powers.

    Explaining this to the average voter might be challenging, but the fact remains: Congress has the constitutional authority to regulate the judiciary, even if it’s not commonly exercised or well understood. Wyden’s bill seeks to use those powers to restore trust and transparency in the Court without needing a constitutional amendment.

    So, the checks and balances already exist – it’s a matter of political will and the legislative process, not necessarily popular appeal or constitutional change.













    1. Billions.
    2. Little to Nothing. Because they wouldn’t make it as far as fast as the Voyager probes because they got a massive gravitational assist from a rare alignment that only happens every 176 years. All the other planets needed to be aligned appropriately for this journey at this speed. New horizons may leave the solar system in 43 if we don’t lose contact. And they already want to shut the program down. NH is about 10000 km/h slower than Voyager 1.

    Best to use targeted probes to explore things we haven’t before. Ask different questions and if they leave the solar system, good on them. But I’d prefer orbital data satellites around all the ocean moons in the outer solar system.