On Monday, President Biden presented his vision for Congress to implement “bold” regulations on the Supreme Court, advocating for term limits, a new code of conduct, and the creation of a constitutional amendment to limit presidential immunity.
“In recent years, the extreme rulings issued by the Supreme Court have eroded our longstanding civil rights principles and protections,” Biden asserted during an event at the LBJ Presidential Library, marking the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act.
Biden highlighted several recent cases, including the reversal of Roe v. Wade and Trump v. United States, which he described as “particularly alarming” for establishing a degree of presidential immunity, dubbing it a “perilous precedent.”
“This court is being weaponized to advance a radical, unaccountable agenda,” Biden declared, referring to the immunity ruling as “a profound insult to the expectations we hold for those in power,” he added.
BIDEN AND HARRIS ADVOCATE FOR SUPREME COURT TERM LIMITS, CODE OF CONDUCT, AND PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY RESTRICTIONS
President Joe Biden speaks during a reproductive freedom campaign rally at George Mason University in Manassas, Virginia, on Jan. 23, 2024. (Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“Fellow Americans, with all my experience, I firmly believe these reforms are essential for restoring confidence in our judicial system and upholding the checks and balances that are crucial to our democracy,” he stated.
Biden’s proposed reforms aim to eliminate any immunity currently afforded to former presidents for crimes committed during their tenure. He is advocating for an 18-year term limit for Supreme Court justices, enabling presidents to nominate new justices every two years.
Biden emphasized that a new code of conduct for the Supreme Court should mandate justices to “disclose any gifts, avoid public political activities, and recuse themselves from cases where they or their spouses have financial or other conflicts of interest.”
President Biden descends the steps of Air Force One at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Wednesday, July 17, 2024. (Susan Walsh/AP)
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., responded by saying that such sweeping changes would be “dead on arrival” in the House, with uncertainty surrounding whether Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., would advance them in the Senate.
In response, Biden remarked that Johnson’s perspective is “dead on arrival.”
This shift in Biden’s stance on the Supreme Court represents a notable change. He has historically resisted internal party pressures to alter the court’s composition, previously labeling the notion of expanding the number of justices as a “boneheaded” idea that would jeopardize the court’s credibility.
However, given the current Republican-nominated majority on the high court, Biden is adopting a more radical stance.
Vice President Harris, who is also in the presidential race, publicly supported the initiative earlier on Monday. “There is an evident crisis of confidence in the Supreme Court as its impartiality has been called into question following several ethics scandals and repeated decisions overturning established precedents,” she stated.
TRUMP IMMUNITY CASE: SUPREME COURT RULES EX-PRESIDENTS HAVE SUBSTANTIAL PROTECTION FROM PROSECUTION
Supreme Court Justices posing for an official photo at the Supreme Court. (Photo by OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images)
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Biden’s announcement on Monday signifies his first major policy initiative after unexpectedly withdrawing from the presidential race and endorsing Harris, shortly after claiming he was “in it to win it.”
