Greg Greene: Because the structure of the Supreme Court isn't defined in constitutional text — only the role of chief justice is — Congress can write language redefining its membership. As this article argues, it departs from legislative precedents to say that change can happen only once all seats fall vacant:

The big structural changes I want in a Judiciary Act: - reorganization of SCOTUS to consist of the chief + 12 appeals-court judges selected through annual sortition; - creation of new district seats & appellate circuits; - melting the 5th Circuit in the fires of Mt Doom, just to be sure.

Thanks @stevevladeck.bsky.social for the @StrictScrutiny_ shout out in @theatlantic.bsky.social piece on ... *whatever* is going on with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit! www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but is that first one actually doable constitutionally? I know the number of justices isn't fixed, but thought selection thereof was proscribed.

The selection process of Senate advice and consent happens for every confirmed federal appeals judge, so that requirement would be met. The Constitution is also silent on _how_ the Supreme Court should be constituted, not merely on the number of jurists it should have.

(But it's a legit question! I don't mind answering it at all.)

Thank you! The idea of SCOTUS not being a defined lifetime seat is an interesting angle I've not heard mentioned in the various fanfic I've seen on this topic.

Right — in this proposal the membership pool still consists of judges with lifetime appointments, but the appointments are to the appellate courts. It's a way to approach "term limits" creatively within the bounds of constitutional law.

Would this require that current justices get to serve out their term, or is there a constitutional approach to demoting them while of course they are still lifetime judges?

Because the structure of the Supreme Court isn't defined in constitutional text — only the role of chief justice is — Congress can write language redefining its membership. As this article argues, it departs from legislative precedents to say that change can happen only once all seats fall vacant:

Judicial sortition helps Congress and the Supreme Court - LegBranchwww.legbranch.org There are different ways to win a debate. One of the most common techniques in politics is to make a straw man argument. Straw man arguments are prevalent in political debates because they refute oppo...

Awesome. Thanks so much for the info.

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