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From the Humankind series on Judicial Independence: Can our court system be fixed? 

President Joe Biden has pledged to appoint a commission to make “recommendations as to how to reform the court system, because it’s getting out of whack.”

This documentary explores a fascinating menu of possibilities for restructuring the judiciary to reduce political influence on our courts. Experts in Constitutional law, journalists and others weigh in on proposals to expand the size of the Supreme Court, establish term limits for federal judges and other options.

Boston Globe journalist and attorney Kimberly Atkins says, "There has always been, between the three branches of government, this sort of tug of war over which branch has more or less power.”  

Case Western University law professor Jonathan Adler says, "How do you transition from a court where justices were nominated and confirmed for lifetime appointments to a court on which they serve 18 year terms or something like that? But I think it’s a serious proposal.”

University of California/Davis law professor Aaron Tang says, "If Americans can’t have trust in the integrity of the law, we start to slide down that path we’ve seen in…failed democracies.”

Emily Bazelon of the New York Times Magazine and Yale Law School says, “To have any one person exercise that much power for 20, or 30, or 40 years, it just seems like a really bad idea to me.”

David Freudberg is executive producer of the Humankind series. 

For more information and to hear other documentaries, go to 

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From the Humankind documentary series, “Judicial Independence,” a new documentary about reforming the federal court system.

Humankind documentary: 'Reforming the courts'

U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett sworn in.

Humankind documentary: 'Reforming the courts'

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