US President Joe Biden has called for sweeping reform of the Supreme Court, as well as restrictions on the immunity of presidents from federal prosecution, POLITICO reports.
The changes are needed to restore Americans’ faith in the highest court, Biden is expected to say in a speech at the L.B. John Presidential Library in Austin, Texas. POLITICO reported Friday that Biden intends to support the proposals.
Biden’s call comes after another controversial term in which the court’s 6-3 conservative majority has continued to use its power, particularly in a decision that significantly weakened the federal criminal case against former President Donald Trump for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. And scandals involving two members of the conservative bloc have increased scrutiny of the court’s ethics rules.
Biden will also seek a constitutional amendment clarifying that presidents are immune from federal prosecution – in response to the Supreme Court’s July 1 ruling in the Trump case that presidents have some immunity from prosecution for “official acts” while in office.
Establishing term limits and a mandatory code of ethics would require congressional approval, leaving little chance that the current divided Congress will pass the proposals this year. And even if Democrats control both chambers after the election, they are unlikely to have the 60 votes in the Senate needed to overcome a filibuster.
Passing a constitutional amendment is even more difficult, requiring the support of two-thirds of both houses of Congress or a convention convened by two-thirds of the states, as well as the approval of three-quarters of state legislatures.
But embracing such ideas alone is a major step for Biden and the clearest sign yet of his deep frustration with a conservative majority that has shattered longstanding precedents and blocked key policy priorities during his presidency.
Biden, a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, rejected calls from liberals during his 2020 campaign to support expanding the court. Instead, he created a commission to study possible changes, but took no action after its report was released in late 2021.
In the intervening years, however, the Supreme Court has struck down federal abortion rights, made it harder for states to regulate guns, and struck down Biden’s student loan forgiveness programme. These decisions by the conservative majority sparked a flurry of outrage from Democrats and reinforced the public’s view of the court as too partisan.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito were involved in personal scandals during this time. Both justices failed to disclose gifts or private flights from Republican donors, and Alito was criticised after it was revealed that a flag flying outside his home was linked to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Those events, Biden plans to argue in his op-ed and Monday afternoon during a speech in Texas, have convinced him that reforms are needed to restore trust and accountability to the court.
The code of ethics advocated by Biden would require judges to disclose gifts, refrain from public political activity and recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have financial or other conflicts of interest. The code would be mandatory and enforceable, although it is unclear what enforcement mechanism Biden envisions.
Biden’s term limits proposal would limit justices on the Supreme Court to 18 years of active service. Under this plan, presidents would appoint a new justice every two years.
The proposal would likely face legal challenges because the Constitution states that justices hold office “during good behaviour” – a provision long understood to mean lifetime tenure. Proponents of term limits argue that Congress could comply with that provision by requiring judges to take a form of “senior status” after 18 years in office – a role in which they would not serve full-time but could replace sitting judges who recuse themselves from a case.
According to a White House spokesman, Biden’s proposed constitutional amendment is meant to clarify that the Constitution grants no immunity from prosecution, trial, conviction or sentencing in federal criminal cases merely by virtue of being president.
