As indicated by Jeanne Boyarsky, Oracle/Sun is reinventing the SCJP into the Sun Java Programmer Plus Certification.  The big difference is the new exam will require hands on programming instead of memorizing obscure details.

This exam is not yet implemented, but in beta stage and Sun is looking for interested developers to try out this new approach. If you're interested, you can sign up for this.

Personally, I think this is a good step. Currently, preparation for the exam seems to involve reading one or more exam preparation guides, memorizing APIs and getting your hands on a number of test exams. Good programmers who haven't done that will not automatically pass, but bad programmers who put in the right effort might. Of course, we'll have to wait and see how it will be implemented in the end.