The White House is keeping its work on proposed changes to the Supreme Court under wraps from key Senate Democrats even as some seek to offer their two cents on policies they would play a crucial role in passing during President Joe Biden’s final months in office .
Several Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee surveyed by the Washington Examiner said they have not heard from the White House on the matter despite weeks of reports on the subject, including panel Chairman Dick Durbin (D-IL).
“I haven't heard anything directly from the White House,” said Durbin, the chamber’s second-ranking Democrat as majority whip.
Instead, the White House appears to be leaning on a single Senate Democrat who, like Durbin, is a longtime advocate of implementing oversight measures on the high court: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).
“I don't want to characterize it, but yeah, we were in touch,” Whitehouse told the Washington Examiner.
Informed that fellow Democrats on the committee have not been in contact with administration officials, Whitehouse reiterated, “We were.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment or whether it has engaged with other lawmakers on the subject.
In his first remarks since dropping out of the presidential race, Biden on Wednesday laid out policy goals for his final few months as president in a speech from the Oval Office. Among them was Supreme Court reform.
“I'm going to call for Supreme Court reform because this is critical to our democracy,” Biden said.
The high court’s rightward slant that solidified under former President Donald Trump for years to come has fueled progressive calls for adding seats to the nine-justice body in a bid to, as Democrats describe it, level the playing field in the courtroom. Recent failures by justices to disclose lavish gifts from GOP donors or proceeds made outside their government roles, as well as declining to recuse themselves from cases where Democrats have claimed they have conflicts of interest, have exacerbated Democratic demands for Congress to impost ethics laws.
Biden’s work-in-progress proposal reportedly includes endorsing term limits for justices and a legally enforceable ethics code, which would take precedence over the high court’s self-imposed ethics pledge. The prospects of such measures becoming law in a divided Congress are virtually zero, but the legislation would energize Democrats’ base just months before the election.
“I couldn't be happier that they're moving in this direction,” Whitehouse said. “It's time, and I think that Vice President Harris will be completely on board and maybe even [give] a little bit more oomph.”
Other Democrats are likewise prepared to embrace such proposals, but some prodded the White House for better collaboration with Capitol Hill.
“I hope to have conversations with them because I am all for court reform,” Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) told the Washington Examiner. “I have discussion drafts on some of those kinds of bills, and I've signed on to some of those bills.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) advocated term limits, replacing justices on a staggered basis, and enforceable ethics because he said the court “acts as though it's responsible to no one.”
“I anticipate we'll be having a robust conversation over these next few weeks,” he said.
Sens. Peter Welch (D-VT) and Jon Ossoff (D-GA) were also not contacted by the White House.
Other Democrats not on the Judiciary Committee, such as Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), want the party to go far further by packing the high court with four new justices.
But no matter Biden’s ultimate policy endorsements, the court’s most ardent defenders on the Republican side of the aisle are vowing to stop all reforms in their tracks.
“It’s a separate branch,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) told the Washington Examiner. “Keep the nose of Congress and the administration out of it.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said the only measure he would greenlight is his constitutional amendment to ensure there will never be more than nine justices.
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Carrie Severino, a former law clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas and head of the conservative legal advocacy group Judicial Crisis Network, assailed Biden for weighing any changes.
“Biden seems intent on pleasing his dark money benefactors with his pledge to pursue so-called court reform,” she said. “While he is still short on specifics, we can expect him to try to do an end run around the Constitution in his farewell effort to destroy the court."
Haisten Willis contributed to this report.
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