The weekend of bad Supreme Court hot takes on late night comedy shows continued on HBO on Sunday as Last Week Tonight host John Oliver tackled the concept of the Supreme Court’s shadow docket, also known as its emergency docket or interim relief docket. At the end of his lengthy anti-SCOTUS monologue, Oliver declared that “we” need to start preparing voters for “court reform,” which might include court packing.
Oliver mourned, “I know some will say no substantive court reform is likely to happen during this administration, which is obviously true, but it is still worth starting the conversation now. Because there are lots of ideas for court reform—from adding justices, to no longer allowing the court to set its own docket—and they always seem to get kicked down the road for a later discussion.”
John Oliver wants to entertain the idea of packing the Supreme Court, but wants you to know he's not power drunk, the Court is, "And I know some will say no substantive court reform is likely to happen during this administration, which is obviously true, but it's still worth… pic.twitter.com/V0IwzeAahf
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) May 12, 2026
Continuing with his lamentations, Oliver recalled former President Joe Biden’s presidential commission on the idea:
You may remember Joe Biden came into office and handed the idea of court reform off to a blue ribbon commission, and if you're thinking, "Oh yeah, what the fuck became of that?"
He actually released a set of proposals in July of 2024. You might've missed it. Not only because it was around a month after he imploded on the debate stage, but also because it was the week after he withdrew from the race, and nobody was going to be reading that report then. The only thing people were reading that week were 500 different tweets about how Kamala was brat. It was a weird time, but, you know, it all worked out.
Oliver didn’t mention it, but neither one of his preferred outcomes made it into that report. Instead, it recommended overturning Trump v. United States—the case held presidents are immune from criminal prosecution for actions undertaken as president within the purview of the office—18-year term limits for justice, and a “binding code of conduct.”
Getting practical, Oliver concluded, “The point is, we have two and a half years between now and the next election to lay the groundwork for change. And I'd argue it's worth doing. Because this Court has eroded people's confidence to the point it's now considered a political arm instead of a necessary check on political power. And if you ask me, that qualifies as, if I may borrow a phrase, actual irreparable fucking harm.”
By “people’s confidence,” Oliver sought to obscure his own power craze because he really just meant his confidence and those who agree with him.
Here is a transcript for the May 11 show:
HBO Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
5/10/2026
11:58 PM ET
JOHN OLIVER: And I know some will say no substantive court reform is likely to happen during this administration, which is obviously true, but it's still worth starting the conversation now.
Because there are lots of ideas for court reform—from adding justices to no longer allowing the court to set its own docket—and they always seem to get kicked down the road for a later discussion. You may remember Joe Biden came into office and handed the idea of court reform off to a blue-ribbon commission. And if you're thinking, "Oh yeah, what the fuck became of that?"
He actually released a set of proposals in July of 2024. You might've missed it. Not only because it was around a month after he imploded on the debate stage, but also because it was the week after he withdrew from the race, and nobody was going to be reading that report then. The only thing people were reading that week were 500 different tweets about how Kamala was brat. It was a weird time, but, you know, it all worked out.
The point is, we have two and a half years between now and the next election to lay the groundwork for change. And I'd argue it's worth doing. Because this Court has eroded people's confidence to the point it's now considered a political arm instead of a necessary check on political power. And if you ask me, that qualifies as, if I may borrow a phrase, actual irreparable fucking harm.
