Our federal courts, including the Supreme Court, need reform. Necessary improvements can help restore confidence in our judicial branch and help ensure our courts work for all of us, not just the wealthy and powerful.
As the Trump administration tries to stack the federal bench with collaborators, and or ignores court orders entirely, Congress is considering several bills focused on court reform -- some good, some bad. These are the bills we’re tracking and how they could affect the courts.
Reforms we support
Right now, Supreme Court Justices serve as long as they choose with no term limits. This has led to deep imbalances in the Court’s makeup by allowing some presidents to appoint nearly half the court, shaping the court for generations while other presidents have only one or even no vacancies. The TERM Act offers a responsible, constitutional fix to this problem by:
- Implementing 18-year terms for all current and future Supreme Court justices, followed by senior status
- Requiring a new appointment every two years, tied to the first and third years after each presidential election
- Including a process to fill vacancies temporarily with senior justices if the number of active justices drops below nine
Importantly, this system would begin applying to current justices – with Justice Clarence Thomas, the most senior member of the Court, first in line to assume senior status.
The TERM Act maintains constitutional life tenure by allowing justices to retain their judicial office in a senior capacity – a system already used for lower federal courts and upheld by the Supreme Court itself. Senior justices would keep their judicial offices and salary, but they would have lighter and different duties (such as serving on circuit court panels or, as noted above, filling in on the Supreme Court when there are fewer than nine active justices).
This is a practical, widely supported reform. According to the Brennan Center, 7 in 10 voters – across the political spectrum – support Supreme Court term limits. Constitutional experts say Congress has the authority to do this. It’s one of the most popular and bipartisan ideas in the country – and it’s time Congress listened.
Some of the key tasks of the U.S. Marshals Service are protecting federal judges and enforcing court orders – core functions that must remain independent of political influence. But under President Trump, those responsibilities are under threat, because the Marshals Service is part of the Justice Department, not the court system. His administration has ignored court rulings, harassed judges, and politicized the Marshals.
The MARSHALS Act would strengthen checks and balances by transferring authority over the Marshals Service to the judicial branch, where it belongs.
Add your name now to support this urgent reform and defend the rule of law.
Deforms we oppose
The PEPPER Act (H.R. 1789) is a blatant attempt to shield Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, and other federal officials from facing consequences for breaking state laws. It would allow them to move state criminal and civil cases into federal courts – where the charges could be thrown out entirely. Even worse, the bill creates a presumption of total immunity for any action taken while in office, regardless of whether it was remotely related to their official duties.
This is not justice. It’s a roadmap to impunity.
Add your name now and urge your representative to vote NO on the PEPPER Act. No one is above the law.
The No Rogue Rulings Act (NORRA) is a bill designed to strip federal courts of the power to block Trump’s illegal and unconstitutional actions. It passed the House but had bipartisan opposition. ’If NORRA becomes law, even when district courts find Trump is violating the Constitution, they would be powerless to stop him nationwide. Only the specific people who manage to sue would be protected (or a class of people if it’s a class action lawsuit) – while millions of other Americans could still be harmed.
That’s not what democracy looks like. That’s not what the rule of law demands. It’s what authoritarianism depends on – and we must stop it.
Trump and his MAGA minions want to break our system of checks and balances. It’s up to us to defend it.
Democrats have more power to stop bills in the Senate, but it's up to us to make sure they understand how dangerous it would be to remove the courts' ability to stop Trump’s lawless actions before they cause widespread harm.
Tell the Senate to reject the No Rogue Rulings Act and protect the rule of law!
During his first term, Donald Trump stacked the federal courts with right-wing ideologues—judges who rolled back abortion rights, attacked voting access, and sided with corporate interests over the public. Now, House Republicans are trying to let him do even more damage by giving him 22 new lifetime district court appointments.
The JUDGES Act (H.R. 1702) was originally a bipartisan bill from early 2024 meant to address overburdened courts, with no new judgeships opening until after the next presidential election – so no one would know which party it would help. But Republicans delayed action until after Trump’s win and after securing Senate control—so they could rewrite the rules and hand him dozens of judgeships. It’s a blatant power grab, and we must fight back.
Add your name to stop this hijacking of our courts!
We need you now