US President Joe Biden is expected to call for major Supreme Court reforms on Monday, according to a White House official, a move that would make him the first sitting president in generations to support seismic shifts in the way highest court in the country works.
Biden’s election-year push comes amid deep unpopularity for the high court, but it has little chance of going anywhere. He will call for a constitutional amendment that strips the president of immunity for crimes committed while in office, imposes term limits on Supreme Court justices and a binding code of conduct for the high court, the White House official said.
Biden’s announcement, which he is expected to make at an event in Austin, Texas, commemorating the Civil Rights Act, follows this month’s monumental Supreme Court ruling that grants presidents blanket immunity for some actions taken while in office and after. a series of revelations about judges accepting vacations and gifts from wealthy conservative donors. Campaigning Democrats often point to the Supreme Court’s conservative majority — solidified by former President Donald Trump — to underscore what they see as the big risks of the 2024 election.
The White House official said Biden will ask for an amendment called “No One is Above the Law,” which will declare that the Constitution “does not confer any immunity from federal criminal prosecution, trial, conviction or sentence by virtue of having served as President.”
In what would be another change to the Constitution, Biden will also call for term limits for Supreme Court justices, who serve for life.
The reforms Biden proposes would require congressional approval, which would be difficult to achieve before the end of his term as Republicans control the House and Democrats have a slim majority in the Senate. Constitutional change, however, would require a more complicated process involving the states that seems almost impossible to succeed.
The reforms, which will face strong resistance, are intended to “restore trust and accountability when it comes to the presidency and the Supreme Court of the United States,” the White House official said.
A CNN reported this month that Biden was seriously considering endorsing major Supreme Court reforms, moves that liberal lawmakers and groups have pushed in recent years.
Monday’s announcement will come more than three years after Biden created a commission to study structural changes to the Supreme Court, including term limits and proposals to increase the number of justices. The group presented its report to the White House in late 2021, but the administration did not follow through on any of the ideas discussed in the document.
The debate over the proposed structural changes has become deeply partisan, with widespread opposition from Republicans. But the issue has drawn renewed attention after it was reported in May that controversial flags were previously flown on properties belonging to conservative Justice Samuel Alito. Both flags were flown by protesters during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, although Alito has denied any connection to that incident and has said his wife raised them for different reasons — including a fight with neighbors.
However, the court handed down several controversial rulings this summer that drew sharp criticism from the left, including the stunning 6-3 ruling that granted Trump broad immunity from criminal prosecution over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
Last year, the high court adopted its own code of conduct. But the measure was heavily criticized by ethics experts because it did not include any way to enforce its requirements. Liberal Justice Elena Kagan defended the code of conduct in comments last week, but also conceded that it would be more effective if it included an enforcement mechanism.
Biden’s proposal comes at a time when polls indicate that support for the court is close to historic lows. A Marquette Law School poll conducted in May found that 61% of Americans disapprove of the job the court is doing. Just four years ago, the same poll found the court had a 66% approval rating.
Democrats have sought to use public disapproval of the court — particularly its 2022 ruling that struck down the legal right to abortion — to attract voters. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, now the Democratic pre-candidate, made this decision a central part of their campaign arguments, hoping that the reproductive issue will mobilize voters heading into the November elections.
Biden, a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee who resisted his party’s calls to expand the court, has become increasingly critical of its composition. He described the Supreme Court as “unbalanced” and warned about the impact a second Trump presidency could have on the nation’s highest court.
Biden, who is making his first trip since dropping out of the 2024 race, will call for changes to the presidential library in honor of President Lyndon B. Johnson, who ended his re-election bid in 1968. Biden will also use his comments to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Civil Rights Act, the landmark legislation that cemented Johnson’s legacy.
Biden is the first US president to give up re-election in more than 5 decades
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