President Joe Biden revealed his vision for the Supreme Court on Monday, July 29, announcing a three-part reform plan that he would like to see Congress implement.
“I served as a U.S. senator for 36 years, including as chairman and ranking member of the Judiciary Committee. I have overseen more Supreme Court nominations as senator, vice president and president than anyone living today. I have great respect for our institutions and the separation of powers,” Biden wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post.
“What is happening now is not normal, and it undermines the public’s confidence in the court’s decisions, including those impacting personal freedoms,” he continued. “We now stand in a breach.”
The current nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court.
OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty
The first part of Biden’s plan addresses a July 1 Supreme Court decision, which ruled that Donald Trump and other U.S. presidents enjoy absolute immunity from crimes committed while in 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. And that’s only the beginning,” Biden wrote.
His new proposal urges Congress to pass what he calls a “No One Is Above the Law Amendment,” which “would make clear that there is no immunity for crimes a former president committed while in office.”
“I share our Founders’ belief that the president’s power is limited, not absolute,” he wrote in the Post. “We are a nation of laws — not of kings or dictators.”
Donald Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to stop Congress from certifying the election results.
(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Biden’s second proposal addresses Supreme Court justices’ lifetime appointments, one of the most widely criticized aspects of the court’s structure. As he noted, the presidency has had term limits for nearly 75 years.
“The United States is the only major constitutional democracy that gives lifetime seats to its high court,” he wrote. “Term limits would help ensure that the court’s membership changes with some regularity.”
He further argued that term limits “would make timing for court nominations more predictable and less arbitrary,” and “reduce the chance that any single presidency radically alters the makeup of the court for generations to come.”
Under Biden’s plan, Supreme Court justices would each serve 18 years on the bench. Their terms would expire on a rotation, creating a vacancy every two years and ensuring that each president gets the opportunity to appoint.
Donald Trump introduces his third Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, in September 2020.
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The third piece of Biden’s reform plan addresses its flimsy ethics code, which the president called “weak and self-enforced.”
The issue took center stage in recent years as two justices in particular — conservatives Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito — have declined to recuse themselves from cases with potential conflicts of interest and failed to disclose a variety of gifts from wealthy GOP donors.
Their wives have also engaged in openly partisan political activity: Thomas’ wife, Ginni, involved herself in the effort to prevent Biden from taking power after the 2020 election, and Alito blamed his wife, Martha, for flying flags associated with Trump’s “Stop the Steal” movement outside two of their homes.
“Scandals involving several justices have caused the public to question the court’s fairness and independence, which are essential to faithfully carrying out its mission of equal justice under the law,” Biden wrote.
“I’m calling for a binding code of conduct for the Supreme Court. This is common sense,” he continued. “Every other federal judge is bound by an enforceable code of conduct, and there is no reason for the Supreme Court to be exempt.”
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris during a press briefing after the July 13 assassination attempt of Donald Trump.
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Biden concluded his op-ed by claiming that each of his proposals are broadly popular among constitutional scholars and American voters. He added that they were informed by insights from a bipartisan presidential commission dedicated to Supreme Court reform.
“We can and must prevent the abuse of presidential power. We can and must restore the public’s faith in the Supreme Court. We can and must strengthen the guardrails of democracy,” he said. “In America, no one is above the law. In America, the people rule.”
Vice President Kamala Harris, who is likely to lead the Democratic White House ticket in November, promptly endorsed Biden’s reform proposals as an extension of her vision for the Supreme Court.
“In the course of our Nation’s history, trust in the Supreme Court of the United States has been critical to achieving equal justice under law,” she said in a statement. “Yet today, there is a clear crisis of confidence facing the Supreme Court as its fairness has been called into question after numerous ethics scandals and decision after decision overturning long-standing precedent.”
She continued: “These popular reforms will help to restore confidence in the Court, strengthen our democracy, and ensure no one is above the law.”
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Publish date : 2024-07-29 12:54:59
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