The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. (US Constitution, Article III, Sect. 1)
But how many chambers can it have?
...
So here's my idea: Add 1 more Associate Justice to the Supreme Court, then split the one court into two chambers to increase the amount of cases heard by the court as a whole (it's currently around 80 per year). Here are a few notes:
- Two chambers, 5 members each
- Membership of each chamber organized by the Chief Justice
- Every SC Justice has 20 year terms
- When such a reform is implemented, the current SC Justices determine where they will fall in the "one term ends every two years" structure
- When they meet as a combined chamber (they should be able to do this), the most junior SC Justice will sit out. If another SC Justice abstains from hearing, the most junior SC Justice will sit in as an alternate
- The chamber with the Chief Justice would determine which cases it would hear and decide on first, with the other chamber deciding on what to hear second
- The chamber with the Chief Justice would be called the Superior Chamber, and the chamber without the Chief Justice would be called the Inferior Chamber
- Both chambers can publish their opinions as they see fit
- Maybe more things, but I can't remember what it might be rn, so come back later for more things maybe if you like maybe