Washington.– President Joe Biden plans to put forward proposals that could dramatically change the Supreme Court, including term limits for justices who currently hold lifetime tenure, according to a person familiar with the deliberations.
The effort represents a substantial shift for a president who has long resisted calls from many in his party to support reforms to the high court, and comes as he struggles to garner political support to bolster his embattled presidential campaign.
The president has also discussed an enforceable ethics code for judges and a constitutional amendment that would override the Supreme Court’s recent decision offering broad immunity to presidents for official actions, according to the Washington Post, which was first to report on the effort.
Any significant changes would likely face a difficult path to becoming law. Congress is not expected to take up major legislation before the November election, where public opinion polls favor Biden’s Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump. If Trump were reelected, he would have to overcome almost certain opposition from Republicans in Congress, who have viewed the Supreme Court’s recent rightward shift as a major political victory.
The White House has not consulted with lawmakers on the House or Senate Judiciary Committees about the plans, according to a person familiar with the efforts. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to comment on the president’s plans.
“I’m not going to get ahead of the President, so I don’t have anything to share at this time,” he said.
But Biden hinted at the upcoming proposal in a call Saturday with the Congressional Progressive Caucus as he sought to shore up political support following his disastrous June 27 presidential debate.
Liberal members of the Democratic caucus have increasingly sought to implement sweeping changes to the Supreme Court after its conservative majority pushed through a number of Republican policy priorities. At the same time, some justices have come under scrutiny for accepting high-dollar gifts from conservative donors and activists.
In 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that had guaranteed federal abortion rights for nearly half a century. The high court also struck down Biden’s attempt to cancel student loan debt and rolled back affirmative action programs in college admissions.
Meanwhile, Justice Clarence Thomas has come under fire for failing to disclose expensive gifts and vacations from Republican donors.
In June, the court ruled that presidents could be granted immunity for official acts, creating new complications for efforts to prosecute Trump in a series of criminal cases.
Biden said he believed the court had “made a terrible decision” in an interview with NBC News on Monday.
“They seem disconnected from what the founders intended,” he added.
Trump, in a statement on his social media platform on Tuesday, accused Democrats of attacking the Supreme Court with the proposed reforms.
“The reason these communists are so despondent is that their illegal witch hunts are failing everywhere,” Trump wrote.
“The Democrats are attempting to interfere in the Presidential election and destroy our justice system by attacking their political opponent, ME, and our honorable Supreme Court.”
Democrats’ efforts to push for Supreme Court reform are not new. Many in the party called for changes after Senate Republicans blocked President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to the court following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia.
Biden created a presidential commission to study the Supreme Court early in his term, but the panel’s final report ultimately provided no recommendations and he did not endorse any legal reforms.
With information from Bloomberg
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