President Joe Biden unveiled on Monday morning his three-point plan to overhaul the Supreme Court with a focus on limiting former president Donald Trump’s immunity for official acts.
Biden laid out his Supreme Court reform plan in an op-ed for the Washington Post, calling for a constitutional amendment limiting presidential immunity, 18-year term limits for justices, and a code of ethics to prevent corruption.
Biden wrote that “the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision on July 1 to grant presidents broad immunity from prosecution for crimes they commit in office means there are virtually no limits on what a president can do. The only limits will be those that are self-imposed by the person occupying the Oval Office.”
“If a future president incites a violent mob to storm the Capitol and stop the peaceful transfer of power — like we saw on Jan. 6, 2021 — there may be no legal consequences,” he added.
Last week, Biden hinted at his Supreme Court reform proposal during his primetime address on his decision to drop out of the presidential race. Later today, he is scheduled to give a speech on his Supreme Court plan. It is unclear how the lame-duck president would get these reforms done with a Republican House.
In his call for term-limits, Biden said no president should have the opportunity to significantly shift the court’s ideological makeup, another reference to Trump, who appointed three justices in his four-year term, justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett.
“Term limits would help ensure that the court’s membership changes with some regularity. That would make timing for court nominations more predictable and less arbitrary. It would reduce the chance that any single presidency radically alters the makeup of the court for generations to come,” Biden wrote.
Left-wing dark-money groups have campaigned extensively against the Supreme Court’s conservative justices as part of a broader campaign to undermine the court and lay the foundation for court packing. Democratic politicians and mainstream media outlets have joined in the effort, most recently waging a partisan campaign against Justice Samuel Alito based on the flags flown outside of his home and beach house.
Justice Clarence Thomas has also been a point of emphasis for activists who claim he accepted gifts from donors looking to influence his rulings, and who believe he should recuse himself from certain cases because of his wife’s conservative political activism.
The Supreme Court’s high-profile rulings, such as the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade two years ago, have inflamed the Left’s campaign against the court, with the latest being the decision to grant presidents immunity for official acts, a ruling with major ramifications for Trump’s ongoing criminal proceedings.
Other Supreme Court rulings during Biden’s presidency have strengthened Second Amendment rights, overturned race-based college admissions policies, dramatically curtailed the administrative state, overturned Biden’s roughly $400 billion student loan forgiveness plan, and protected the right to free expression.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, is also a proponent of overhauling the Supreme Court, and expressed support for Biden’s plan to address what she believes to be a crisis of confidence for the court.
Republicans and conservatives are unified in their opposition to Biden’s Supreme Court overhaul plan, warning that it would do great damage to the rule of law.
“Let me be clear: If Democrats want to adopt an across the board ethics ban for all branches, I am in favor of that: no jets, no meals, no speaking honorariums, no gifts for anyone from anyone for any reason in any branch, starting with Congress. Until they support that, let’s all be honest about what this is: a campaign to destroy a court that they disagree with,” Federalist Society co-chairman Leonard Leo said in a statement provided to NR.
Before the proposal was announced officially, Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) proclaimed it “dead on arrival” in the Senate, because he believes it is meant to blow up the Roberts court. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) made clear Monday that Biden’s Supreme Court plan will not go anywhere in the chamber.
“President Biden’s proposal to radically overhaul the U.S. Supreme Court would tilt the balance of power and erode not only the rule of law, but the American people’s faith in our system of justice,” Johnson said on X. “This proposal is the logical conclusion to the Biden-Harris Administration and Congressional Democrats’ ongoing efforts to delegitimize the Supreme Court. Their calls to expand and pack the Court will soon resume.”