Link to the original news post
Yesterday on the 21st of July, the Supreme Court Expansion Amendment was ratified by a majority of voters, achieving a 70% majority in the referendum, which surpassed the required 66.6%. It's a Constitutional Amendment of no more than three lines of text, simply increasing the number of Supreme Court Justices from three to five.
It was written by Muggy, the current Secretary of Expansion and a practicing attorney, and passed by the Senate on the 15th of July, which actually required a tiebreaker by the Vice President, since the chamber’s opinion on the bill was split four to four. Then-Vice President Matt Cheney decided to vote in favour of the bill.
Criticism from the four Senators opposing the bill included that a previous version of the Amendment had already failed referendum, that adding more Justices to the Supreme Court would decrease its efficiency with more opinions having to be considered in the deliberation surrounding verdicts, and that the President could potentially appoint the two new Justices in a partisan manner.
On the other hand though, proponents of the bill argued that it actually would increase judicial efficiency by having more Justices available to hear cases and write verdicts, and that with it, there could finally be a member of the Supreme Court who joined after the Danyowave.
The following is a quote from Supreme Court Justice Ivy who was invited to express his opinion on the bill to the Senate, by the Senate:
”The process of [writing verdicts] itself is what takes a while, and what we're tasked to right is not a small task. [...] You also need to accomodate[sic] the fact that Justices do have irl issues. Imagine if you had a 3 person Senate and they were the only ones allowed to write bills - it doesn't matter how good they are at their jobs it's going to be a slow process. Expanding it to have more people allows for more realistic expectations and accomodates[sic] schedules.”
The only question still left unanswered in this matter now is, who the President will appoint to the newly opened seats. To give a short answer to this question, President Thyme has already announced that she would appoint whoever the three sitting Justices recommended to her, namely Judge Britz, who joined after the danyowave, and Ed, a long-time experienced lawyer and the current Attorney General.
Full interview with Supreme Court Justice Sparty
Q: Could you quickly summarize your thoughts on the Supreme Court Expansion Amendment and who the two new Justices should be?
A: While initially the Court wasn't quite sure how necessary the bill was, in the intervening month and change, we've concluded that it could help us considerably to keep pace with some of SimDemocracy's more prolific JRR submitters. To that end, we've identified Britz and Ed as having the necessary skills and character for the position, and trust that both of them will do very well when elevated to the Court.
Full interview with Supreme Court Justice Ivy
Q: Could you quickly summarize your thoughts on the Supreme Court Expansion Amendment and who the two new Justices should be?
A: So I gave very extensive opinions on this in the Senate hearing - so I won't go on at too much length here. My main thought is that it's likely expansion helps speed things up, and worst case scenario is things stay the same speed. So that's either good or neutral, and meanwhile bringing in more blood (especially newer blood) would be beneficial to the court, while also making it more fun.
The two justices the SC has recommended are Britz and Ed.
Full interview with President Thyme
Q: Could you quickly summarize your thoughts on the Supreme Court Expansion Amendment and who the two new Justices should be?
A: I am very excited to see this amendment pass. This will greatly increase the efficacy of the Court and help streamline everything (and make it all more interesting!). I've been in communication with the Court, and they want Ed and Britz to ascend, so that's who I'll put up! I really encourage the Senate to confirm my nominations once I make them and to not politicize this situation. This is a celebration for SimDemocracy and our Judiciary. Do not fuck this up.
The Supreme Court Justice Syndicality sadly didn’t respond to my interview request. What a downer. He’s a bit busy in real life though at the moment so I can see why.