II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5220 

To establish a process for expedited consideration of legislation relating to 

decisions by the Supreme Court of the United States. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 25, 2024 

Mr. WHITEHOUSE (for himself, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. 

PADILLA, Ms. WARREN, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. WELCH, Mr. 

MERKLEY, and Mr. BOOKER) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To establish a process for expedited consideration of legislation relating to decisions by the Supreme Court of the 

United States. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Supreme Court Review 

5 Act of 2024’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act— 

8 (1) the term ‘‘covered joint resolution’’ means a 

9 joint resolution that— 


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1 (A) is— 

2 (i) reported by a committee of the 

3 Senate not later than 30 days of session 

4 after the date on which the joint resolution 

5 is referred to committee; 

6 (ii) placed on the calendar in the Sen7 ate in accordance with section 3(a); or 

8 (iii) placed on the calendar in the 

9 Senate in accordance with section 3(c); 

10 and 

11 (B) is germane to the covered Supreme 

12 Court decision described in paragraph (3)(A)(i), 

13 with respect to the joint resolution; 

14 (2) the term ‘‘covered Supreme Court decision’’ 

15 means a decision of the Supreme Court— 

16 (A) which interprets a provision of Federal 

17 statute; or 

18 (B) which interprets or reinterprets the 

19 Constitution of the United States in a manner 

20 that diminishes an individual right or privilege 

21 that is or was previously protected by the Con22 stitution of the United States; 

23 (3) the term ‘‘joint resolution’’ means only a 

24 joint resolution— 

25 (A) that is introduced during the period— 


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1 (i) beginning on the date on which the 

2 Supreme Court issues a covered Supreme 

3 Court decision; and 

4 (ii) ending on the date that is 10 days 

5 of session after the date described in 

6 clause (i); 

7 (B) the title of which is as follows: ‘‘Joint 

8 resolution relating to llll’’, the blank 

9 space being filled in with the name of the cov10 ered Supreme Court decision described in sub11 paragraph (A)(i); and 

12 (C) which does not have a preamble; and 

13 (4) the term ‘‘Supreme Court’’ means the Su14 preme Court of the United States. 

15 SEC. 3. RECONSIDERATION OF COVERED SUPREME COURT 

16 DECISIONS. 

17 (a) DISCHARGE OF COMMITTEE IN THE SENATE.— 

18 (1) MOTION TO DISCHARGE.—Upon a motion 

19 by the minority leader or the ranking member of a 

20 committee to which a joint resolution with respect to 

21 a covered Supreme Court decision has been referred, 

22 such committee shall be discharged from further 

23 consideration of such joint resolution and the joint 

24 resolution shall be placed on the calendar, if such 


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1 motion by the minority leader or the ranking mem2 ber of such committee is made during the period— 

3 (A) beginning 30 days of session after the 

4 date on which such joint resolution is referred 

5 to such committee; and 

6 (B) ending on the date that is 10 days of 

7 session after the date described in subpara8 graph (A). 

9 (2) LIMITATIONS.—Only 1 covered joint resolu10 tion with respect to a particular covered Supreme 

11 Court decision may be placed on the calendar in the 

12 Senate pursuant to this subsection. 

13 (b) EXPEDITED CONSIDERATION IN THE SENATE.— 

14 (1) PROCEEDING TO CONSIDERATION.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding rule 

16 XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, in 

17 the Senate, it shall be in order to move to pro18 ceed to a covered joint resolution not later than 

19 10 days of session after the date on which the 

20 covered joint resolution is placed on the cal21 endar. 

22 (B) PROCEDURE.—Subject to the limita23 tions under subparagraph (C), for a motion to 

24 proceed to the consideration of a covered joint 

25 resolution— 


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1 (i) all points of order against the mo2 tion are waived; 

3 (ii) the motion is not debatable; 

4 (iii) the motion is not subject to a mo5 tion to postpone; 

6 (iv) a motion to reconsider the vote by 

7 which the motion is agreed to or disagreed 

8 to shall not be in order; and 

9 (v) if the motion is agreed to, the cov10 ered joint resolution shall remain the un11 finished business until disposed of. 

12 (C) LIMITATIONS ON MOTIONS TO PRO13 CEED.—The procedures set forth in subpara14 graph (B) shall apply only to— 

15 (i) for a covered joint resolution re16 ported by a committee, a motion to pro17 ceed made by the majority leader, the chair 

18 of such committee, or a designee; 

19 (ii) for a covered joint resolution 

20 placed on the calendar under subsection 

21 (a)(1), a motion to proceed made by the 

22 majority leader, the minority leader, the 

23 ranking member described in subsection 

24 (a)(1), or a designee; or 


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1 (iii) for a covered joint resolution re2 ceived from the House, a motion to pro3 ceed made by the majority leader, the chair 

4 of the committee with jurisdiction of the 

5 covered joint resolution, or a designee. 

6 (2) FLOOR CONSIDERATION GENERALLY.—If 

7 the Senate proceeds to the consideration of a cov8 ered joint resolution— 

9 (A) all points of order against the covered 

10 joint resolution (and against consideration of 

11 the covered joint resolution) are waived, except 

12 for points of order relating to non-germane 

13 matters; 

14 (B) consideration of the covered joint reso15 lution, and all amendments, debatable motions, 

16 and appeals in connection therewith, shall be 

17 limited to not more than 10 hours, which shall 

18 be divided equally between the majority and mi19 nority leaders or their designees; 

20 (C) a motion further to limit debate is in 

21 order and not debatable; 

22 (D) the only amendments in order to the 

23 covered joint resolution are— 


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1 (i) germane amendments proposed by 

2 a committee to which the joint resolution 

3 was referred; 

4 (ii) not more than 5 germane amend5 ments proposed by the majority leader, or 

6 a designee; and 

7 (iii) not more than 5 germane amend8 ments proposed by the minority leader, or 

9 a designee; 

10 (E) a motion to postpone or a motion to 

11 recommit the covered joint resolution is not in 

12 order; and 

13 (F) a motion to proceed to the consider14 ation of other business is not in order. 

15 (3) POINT OF ORDER AGAINST NON-GERMANE

16 MATTER.— 

17 (A) POINT OF ORDER.— 

18 (i) IN GENERAL.—In the Senate, it 

19 shall not be in order to consider a provi20 sion in a covered joint resolution, or an 

21 amendment thereto, that contains non-ger22 mane matter. 

23 (ii) POINT OF ORDER SUSTAINED.—If 

24 a point of order is made by a Senator 

25 against a provision described in clause (i), 


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1 and the point of order is sustained by the 

2 Chair, that provision shall be stricken from 

3 the measure. 

4 (B) CONSIDERATIONS.—In determining 

5 whether a provision is germane under this para6 graph, the factors considered by the Chair shall 

7 include— 

8 (i) whether the provision amends a 

9 provision of Federal statute that is not ref10 erenced in the opinion associated with the 

11 covered Supreme Court decision at issue in 

12 the covered joint resolution; 

13 (ii) whether the provision amends a 

14 provision of Federal statute that is not ref15 erenced in a Federal statute that is ref16 erenced in the opinion associated with the 

17 covered Supreme Court decision at issue in 

18 the covered joint resolution; and 

19 (iii) whether the provision amends a 

20 provision of Federal statute in a manner 

21 that is not directly related to the decision 

22 in the covered Supreme Court decision at 

23 issue in the covered joint resolution. 

24 (C) CONFERENCE REPORTS.—When the 

25 Senate is considering a conference report on, or 


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1 an amendment between the Houses in relation 

2 to, a covered joint resolution, upon a point of 

3 order being made by any Senator pursuant to 

4 subparagraph (A)(i), and such point of order 

5 being sustained, such material contained in 

6 such conference report or House amendment 

7 shall be stricken, and the Senate shall proceed 

8 to consider the question of whether the Senate 

9 shall recede from its amendment and concur 

10 with a further amendment, or concur in the 

11 House amendment with a further amendment, 

12 as the case may be, which further amendment 

13 shall consist of only that portion of the con14 ference report or House amendment, as the 

15 case may be, not so stricken. Any such motion 

16 in the Senate shall not be debatable. In any 

17 case in which such point of order is sustained 

18 against a conference report (or Senate amend19 ment derived from such conference report by 

20 operation of this subparagraph), no further 

21 amendment shall be in order. 

22 (D) SUPERMAJORITY WAIVER AND AP23 PEAL.—In the Senate, this paragraph may be 

24 waived or suspended only by an affirmative vote 

25 of three-fifths of the Members, duly chose and 


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1 sworn. An affirmative vote of three-fifths of 

2 Members of the Senate, duly chosen and sworn 

3 shall be required to sustain an appeal of the 

4 ruling of the Chair on a point of order raised 

5 under this paragraph. 

6 (4) VOTE ON PASSAGE.—The vote on passage 

7 of a covered joint resolution shall occur immediately 

8 following the conclusion of the consideration of the 

9 covered joint resolution, and a single quorum call at 

10 the conclusion of the debate if requested in accord11 ance with the rules of the Senate. 

12 (5) LIMITATION ON MULTIPLE MEASURES.—If 

13 a covered joint resolution with respect to a covered 

14 Supreme Court decision is agreed to in the Senate, 

15 except as provided in subsection (c)(1), it shall not 

16 be in order in the Senate to move to proceed to any 

17 other covered joint resolution that is placed on the 

18 calendar in the Senate with respect to the covered 

19 Supreme Court decision. 

20 (6) RULINGS OF THE CHAIR ON PROCEDURE.— 

21 Appeals from the decisions of the Chair relating to 

22 the application of this subsection or the rules of the 

23 Senate, as the case may be, to the procedure relat24 ing to a covered joint resolution shall be decided 

25 without debate. 


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1 (c) ADDITIONAL PROCEDURES.— 

2 (1) TREATMENT OF COVERED JOINT RESOLU3 TION OF OTHER HOUSE.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—If the Senate receives 

5 from the House of Representatives a joint reso6 lution with respect to a covered Supreme Court 

7 decision within 40 days of session after the date 

8 on which the Supreme Court issues such cov9 ered Supreme Court decision, the joint resolu10 tion of the House of Representatives shall not 

11 be referred to a committee, shall immediately be 

12 placed on the appropriate calendar, and shall be 

13 entitled to expedited floor procedures under this 

14 section, without regard to whether the Senate 

15 introduced a joint resolution or considered a 

16 covered joint resolution relating to the applica17 ble covered Supreme Court decision. 

18 (B) LIMITATION ON MULTIPLE MEAS19 URES.—If a joint resolution with respect to a 

20 covered Supreme Court decision received from 

21 the House of Representatives is considered in 

22 the Senate under the procedures under this sec23 tion, it shall not be in order in the Senate to 

24 move to proceed to any other joint resolution 

25 with respect to the covered Supreme Court deciVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:31 Oct 09, 2024 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S5220.IS S5220

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1 sion that is received from the House of Rep2 resentatives. 

3 (2) VETOES.—If the President vetoes a covered 

4 joint resolution, consideration of a veto message in 

5 the Senate under this section shall be not more than 

6 2 hours equally divided between the majority and 

7 minority leaders or their designees. 

8 (d) RULES OF THE SENATE.—Subsections (a), (b), 

9 and (c) are enacted by Congress— 

10 (1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of 

11 the Senate, and as such are deemed a part of the 

12 rules of the Senate, but applicable only with respect 

13 to the procedure to be followed in the Senate in the 

14 case of a covered joint resolution, and supersede 

15 other rules only to the extent that they are incon16 sistent with such rules; and 

17 (2) with full recognition of the constitutional 

18 right of the Senate to change the rules (so far as re19 lating to the procedure of the Senate) at any time, 

20 in the same manner, and to the same extent as in 

21 the case of any other rule of the Senate. 

22 SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

23 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to limit the 

24 authority of the Senate or the House of Representatives 

25 to consider and enact legislation relating to a provision 


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1 of Federal statute interpreted for the first time or reinter2 preted by a covered Supreme Court decision or rights 

3 under the Constitution of the United States under other 

4 applicable procedures. 

Æ 


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