By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US President Joe Biden on Monday will propose sweeping reforms to the Supreme Court, including term limits and a binding code of conduct for its nine justices, but a deeply divided Congress means the changes have little chance of becoming law.
Biden will propose the changes, as well as a constitutional amendment to eliminate broad presidential immunity, during a speech at former President Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidential library in Austin, Texas.
“This nation was founded on a simple but profound principle: no one is above the law. Not the president of the United States. He is not a United States Supreme Court Justice. Nobody,” Biden said in an op-ed published in the Washington Post on Monday.
Biden’s push for reforms comes a week after Biden ended his re-election bid and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to face the Republican presidential nominee. donald trump in November.
It also follows the Supreme Court ruling that there is no constitutional right to abortion and other rulings that have blocked Biden’s agenda on immigration, student loans, vaccine mandates and climate change.
Unlike other members of the federal judiciary, life Supreme Court justices do not have a binding code of ethical conduct. They are subject to disclosure laws that require them to report outside income and certain gifts, although food and other “personal hospitality,” such as lodging in an individual’s residence, are generally exempt.
The Court adopted its first code of conduct in November following revelations about Judge Clarence Thomas accepting undisclosed trips from a wealthy benefactor. There were also reports this year that flags associated with then-President Trump’s attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat flew outside Justice Samuel Alito’s homes in Virginia and New Jersey.
Critics say the code of conduct does not go far enough, as it allows judges to decide for themselves whether to dismiss cases and does not provide for any enforcement mechanism.
Biden will ask Congress to pass binding, enforceable rules that require judges to disclose gifts, refrain from public political activities and recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have financial or other conflicts of interest, the White House said.
He will also urge Congress to adopt an 18-year term limit for Supreme Court justices, the White House said.
Legislation would be needed to impose term limits and a code of ethics on the Supreme Court, but it is unlikely to pass in the current divided Congress.
Additionally, Biden will propose a constitutional amendment that makes clear that having served as president does not guarantee immunity from federal criminal prosecution, trial, conviction or sentence.
Such an amendment would be even more difficult to enact, requiring support from two-thirds of both chambers of Congress or a convention called by two-thirds of the states, and then ratification by 38 of the 50 state legislatures.
The US Supreme Court ruled in July that Trump cannot be prosecuted for actions that were within his constitutional powers as president, in a landmark decision that recognizes for the first time any form of presidential immunity from prosecution.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Michael Perry)
