President Biden revealed plans to overhaul the Supreme Court in an op-ed for The Washington Post Monday morning. Biden is taking aim at term limits, ethics, and presidential immunity.
“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 wrote.
“But the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision on July 1 to grant presidents broad immunity from prosecution for crimes they commit in office means there are virtually no limits on what a president can do.”
“The only limits will be those that are self-imposed by the person occupying the Oval Office.”
From The New York Post:
Making clear he was alarmed at Trump returning to office, he wrote: “If a future president incites a violent mob to storm the Capitol and stop the peaceful transfer of power — like we saw on Jan. 6, 2021 — there may be no legal consequences.”
In addition to his so-called No One Is Above The Law Amendment, Biden proposed term limits for Supreme Court justices, advocating for the president to be able to appoint a new justice every two years to spend 18 years in active service on the high court.
Biden also called for a binding code of conduct for the Supreme Court, writing that the court’s current voluntary ethics code is “weak and self-enforced.”
“Justices should be required to disclose gifts, refrain from public political activity and recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have financial or other conflicts of interest. Every other federal judge is bound by an enforceable code of conduct, and there is no reason for the Supreme Court to be exempt,” he wrote.
He claimed the “majority” of Americans support these reforms, which would help prevent the abuse of presidential powers.
“We can and must prevent the abuse of presidential power. We can and must restore the public’s faith in the Supreme Court. We can and must strengthen the guardrails of democracy,” Biden wrote.
Kamala Harris expressed her support for Biden’s plans, saying “Today, 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.”
Biden admin formally unveils plan to overhaul Supreme Court — with focus on limiting Trump’s powershttps://t.co/obP1PMRLMm
— Mr Producer (@RichSementa) July 29, 2024
