Biden orders SCOTUS Commission

Today the President signed an Executive Order on the Establishment of the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States establishing a 36-member Commission of "distinguished constitutional scholars" and retired federal judges to prepare a report (due 180 days after the Commission's first public meeting) including:

• An account of the contemporary commentary and debate about the role and operation of the Supreme Court in our constitutional system and about the functioning of the constitutional process by which the President nominates and, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoints Justices to the Supreme Court;
• The historical background of other periods in the Nation’s history when the Supreme Court’s role and the nominations and advice-and-consent process were subject to critical assessment and prompted proposals for reform; and
• An analysis of the principal arguments in the contemporary public debate for and against Supreme Court reform, including an appraisal of the merits and legality of particular reform proposals.

"The Commission shall solicit public comment, including other expert views, to ensure that its work is informed by a broad spectrum of ideas."

Law.com has Meet the Group Advising Biden on Supreme Court Reform: Ex-Clerks, Former Judges and Lots of Law Profs. The only ones based in California are:

• Michael Ramsey, a law professor at the University of San Diego School of Law, where he teaches in the areas of constitutional law, foreign relations law and international law. Ramsey clerked for Judge J. Clifford Wallace of the Ninth Circuit and the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in the 1990-91 term.
• Bertrall Ross, professor at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Ross clerked for Judge Dorothy Nelson of the Ninth Circuit.