Term limits, ethics codes: Biden expected to announce plans to shake up Supreme Court

Left: The U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on July 1, 2024. (Aashish Kiphayet/NurPhoto via AP) Right: President Joe Biden speaks at a 2024 Prosperity Summit, July 16, 2024, in North Las Vegas, Nevada. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill)

President Joe Biden is reportedly ready to unveil a proposal soon for new legislation that would set term limits for Supreme Court justices, implement enforceable ethics codes for the high court and potentially establish prohibitions on broad immunity for federal officers who vow to uphold the U.S. Constitution, including the president.

Details of the proposal are still largely under wraps, but The Washington Post reported that during a call with the Congressional Progressive Caucus on July 13, the president said he was “about to come out with a major initiative on limiting the court.”

“I’ve been working with constitutional scholars for the last three months and I need some help,” he added, a transcript of the call obtained by the Post revealed.

The announcement arrives as Biden’s chief Republican competitor for the 2024 presidential race, Donald Trump , holds court at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee and enjoys a victory lap after, as Law&Crime reported , U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed Trump’s indictment for allegedly hoarding classified documents and lying about it to investigators. Cannon, whom Trump appointed to the bench, also found that special counsel Jack Smith was unlawfully appointed by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland — a decision presumably backed by Justice Clarence Thomas and met with much controversy.

Biden, meanwhile, has endured steady criticism in the press and public sphere for his recent debate performance and for press conference appearances. With the wave of rulings from the Supreme Court in recent years upending federal regulatory powers , eroding gun restrictions and blurring the lines between church and state while removing constitutional protections for rights like abortion , and then finally cresting its latest term with its decision to grant Trump immunity for official acts, Biden’s Supreme Court reform proposal could be a boon for his campaign with only a month to go before the Democratic National Convention kicks off on Aug. 19 in Chicago.

Three weeks ago Biden addressed expressed dissatisfaction with the Supreme Court after it granted Trump immunity for official acts. The president condemned the 6-3 ruling “as a dangerous precedent because the power of the office will no longer be constrained by law, even including the Supreme Court of the United States.”

“The only limit will be self-imposed by the president alone,” Biden said during a White House briefing.

In 2022, as ABC News reported, Biden rejected the notion of expanding the Supreme Court, with his White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre telling reporters outright that despite his critiques of the high court’s conservative-leaning rulings, putting more justices on the court was not something he could support.

Through executive order, Biden appointed a bipartisan commission in April 2021 to study changes to the court including what the impact might be of putting term limits on justices of 18 years. Any talk of an expansion was handily rejected, the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States found in December 2021 report.

Enforceable ethics codes would likely enjoy widespread voter popularity if polling is any indication on the matter. A YouGov poll in November found that 74% of voters wanted a stricter code of ethics for the Supreme Court. Of that 74%, YouGov found bipartisan backing: 90% of Democrats polled like the idea of implementing better checks on justices, 70% of independents polled did too, and 57% of Republicans supported the idea of ethics reforms as well as investigations into the court’s justices and their relationships to megadonors.

As explained in a Congressional Research Services report, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it had adopted a code of conduct for justices for the first time in its history in November 2023 when it finally put an ethics code into writing.

But the rules are aspirational, not enforceable, since there is no enforcement mechanism.

Whatever the contents of the proposal may be, things like term limits for justices or ethics rules would require congressional involvement, and with a deeply ideologically divided U.S. House and Senate, Biden’s proposal would face tough odds of coming to fruition.

Ethics scandals have already prompted a call by Senate Democrats for a special counsel to be appointed to investigate “ potential criminal violations ” by Thomas pertaining to his reported receipt of luxurious gifts and more. But as the Post noted in its report on the still yet-t0-be-revealed proposal, to pass a law in the Senate, there must be a 60-vote majority, and to pass a constitutional amendment, a supermajority of each congressional chamber, or two-thirds of each chamber, would need to align behind it. Alternatively, there would need to be a convention of states — which itself requires approval of two-thirds of states — and then three-fourths of state legislatures — currently, 38 states — would then need to approve the amendment.

Legislation has already been introduced in the House to curb gifts justices receive as well as other criteria. In the Senate, less than two dozen Democrats introduced and co-sponsored a bill that would impose 18-year term limits on justices, while a new justice would be appointed every two years.

That Senate bill was introduced in October 2023 and has languished ever since.

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