Biden calls for supreme court reforms including 18-year justice term limits

Joe Biden unveiled a much-anticipated series of sweeping changes to the US
supreme court, including the introduction of term limits for justices and a constitutional amendment to remove immunity for crimes committed by a president while in office.

The reforms, detailed by the White House on Monday, call for limiting a justice’s term on the court to a maximum of 18 years rather than the current lifetime appointment, as well as a binding, enforceable code of ethics and a constitutional amendment that would in effect reverse a supreme court decision in July granting former presidents broad immunity from prosecution for actions taken while in office, a decision Donald Trump hailed as a “BIG WIN” amid his legal travails.

“This nation was founded on a simple yet profound principle: No one is above the law. Not the president of the United States. Not a justice on the Supreme Court of the United States,” Biden wrote in a Washington Post op-ed published on Monday morning. The president was expected to officially endorse the changes during remarks on Monday afternoon at the Lyndon B Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas.

Biden’s endorsement represents a sharp shift for a president who had until recently resisted calls from within his party to embrace court reform. In the op-ed, Biden described himself as an institutionalist, shaped by his 36 years in the US Senate, where he served as the chair of the judiciary committee which handles supreme court nominations.

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“I have great respect for our institutions and separation of powers,” Biden wrote. “What is happening now is not normal, and it undermines the public’s confidence in the court’s decisions, including those impacting personal freedoms. We now stand in a breach.”

The reforms are unlikely to win approval in the narrowly divided Congress. With fewer than 100 days until the November election, Democrats are hoping to harness outrage among the public about the supreme court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, handing down decisions in recent that eliminated constitutional right to an abortion and greatly reduced the power of executive agencies.

“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,” said Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic nominee for president. “These popular reforms will help to restore confidence in the court, strengthen our democracy, and ensure no one is above the law.”

Public confidence in the court has slipped to historic lows in recent years. According to a 2023 Gallup survey, nearly six in 10 Americans disapproved of the way the supreme court was handling its job.

Biden called for a “no one is above the law” amendment to the constitution, which would make clear that no president is entitled to immunity from prosecution by virtue of having served in the White House. Biden also said justices’ terms should be limited to 18 years, under a system where a new justice would be appointed to the supreme court by the serving president every two years.

The president also called for stricter, enforceable rules on conduct which would require justices to disclose gifts, refrain from political activity, and recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have financial interest.

Last week Justice Elena Kagan called for the court to strengthen the ethics code it introduced in 2023 by adding a way to enforce it. That code was introduced after a spate of scandals involving rightwing justices on the court: Clarence Thomas was found to have accepted vacations and travel from a Republican mega-donor, while Samuel Alito flew on a private jet owned by an influential billionaire on the way to a fishing trip.

Though surveys indicate support for term limits and an ethics code, both would require Congressional approval. On Monday, the House speaker, Mike Johnson, called the plan a “dangerous gambit” and declared the proposed measures “dead on arrival”. Meanwhile, the changes would require 60 votes to pass in the Senate, where Democrats hold 51 seats.

“President Biden’s proposal to radically overhaul the US 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 in a statement. He also accused Democrats of attempting to “delegitimize the supreme court” because they disagree with the decisions handed down by its conservative majority.

A constitutional amendment on presidential immunity is even more aspirational, requiring two-thirds support from both chambers of Congress or approval through a convention called by two-thirds of the states, followed by ratification by roughly three-fourths of state legislatures.

Groups pushing for reform embraced Biden’s proposal.

“Action is critical,” said Maggie Jo Buchanan, the managing director of Demand Justice. “We look forward to working to enact these, and all needed reforms, as quickly as possible in order to ensure that our courts work to protect the rights and well-being of every person in this country.”