Biden to call for Supreme Court term limits and ethics code
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President Biden returns to the White House on Sunday after a weekend trip to Camp David. Photo: Michael A. McCoy/Getty Images
President Biden will make a public and provocative case for dramatic changes to the Supreme Court today, calling for 18-year term limits and a new code of ethics for justices.
Why it matters: Eight days after announcing that he would end his presidential bid, Biden is campaigning against the Supreme Court and making it clear that he wants to remain in the political debate.
- He is also squarely joining progressive activists who believe the Supreme Court has grown too powerful and too conservative, with six of the current nine justices appointed by Republican presidents.
Driving the news: Biden is pairing his calls for political reform of the court with a direct rebuke of one of its most significant decisions this year — the 6-3 ruling that presidents have immunity for "official acts" they made in office.
- He's using a trip to the LBJ Presidential Library in Texas, for an event to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, to call for a constitutional amendment that would effectively nullify the immunity decision.
- "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. No one," Biden writes in the Washington Post op-ed this morning.
His call for a new — and enforceable — code of ethics appears to be in response to press reports of judges, like Justice Clarence Thomas, accepting free trips for politically active donors.
- "What is happening now is not normal, and it undermines the public's confidence in the court's decisions, including those impacting personal freedoms," Biden writes. "We now stand in a breach."
Zoom in: The 18-year term limits that Biden is calling for would have two major effects.
- Eventually, it would equally distribute the number of openings a president would have to fill over a four-year team.
- It would also undercut the logic behind the recent trend of nominating young judges with the hope that they stay on the court for a long time.
- The new code of ethics would also hold Supreme Court justices to the same standard as other federal judges and require stricter disclosure and recusal rules.
Zoom out: Biden has not shied away from criticizing the Supreme Court, offering both sweeping and specific indictments of decisions they have made.
- At the center of his charge is his deep disagreement with the court's Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade.
- He has slammed the court's immunity decision on several occasions.
- He also publicly disagreed with its decision to end affirmative action in college admissions.
The other side: House Speaker Mike Johnson said that Biden's proposal was "dead on arrival" in the House and accused Biden of trying to "delegitimize the Court."
- "No conservative justice has made any decision in any big case that surprised anyone, so let's stop pretending this is about undue influence. It's about Democrats destroying a court they don't agree with," said Leonard Leo, co-chairman of the Federalist Society legal group, in a statement.
The bottom line: In last year's college admissions case, Biden laid bare his feelings on the court.
- Asked by a reporter: "Is this a rogue court?" the president stopped in his tracks. He then paused for a moment before saying, "This is not a normal court," then continued out the door.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include comments from Speaker Johnson and Leonard Leo.
