President Biden on Monday will propose term limits for Supreme Court justices and a constitutional amendment to counteract his recent presidential immunity ruling, according to a White House official.
Biden will endorse the proposals during a speech Monday afternoon at the LBJ Presidential Library, where he will also voice support for a binding code of conduct for judges.
“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. No one,” Biden wrote in a opinion piece published on Monday morning in the Washington Post.
The announcement marks a major shift for the president, who has long resisted progressives’ calls for reforms to the Supreme Court over concerns that it would politicize the court. Conservatives portrayed the effort as an attack to overturn the court’s 6-3 conservative majority.
Biden has increasingly faced the court, especially after he overturned constitutional protections for abortion and granted criminal immunity to former presidents. Biden signaled the upcoming announcement in his recent Oval Office speech addressing his decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.
“I have great respect for our institutions and the separation of powers. What is happening now is not normal and undermines public confidence in court decisions, including those that affect personal freedoms. opinion article.
A part of Biden’s triple proposal responds directly to the immunity decision, which provided a major victory for former President Trump by condemning some elements of his criminal cases.
Biden on Monday will call for a constitutional amendment that would partially overturn the historic decision, making clear that former presidents do not enjoy criminal immunity from federal criminal charges. The “No One is Above the Law” Amendment would not apply to state charges, however.
“That would make it clear that there is no immunity for crimes a former president committed while in office. I share our Founders’ belief that the president’s power is limited, not absolute. We are a nation of laws – not kings or dictators,” Biden wrote.
Biden will also require 18-year term limits for the nine justices, which would allow the sitting president to nominate a new justice every two years.
“The United States is the only major constitutional democracy that grants lifetime seats to its high court judges. Term limits would help ensure that Court members change with some regularity; make the timing of Court appointments more predictable and less arbitrary; and reduce the possibility of any Presidency imposing undue influence on future generations”, reads a White House information leaflet about the proposal.
Biden will also support a binding code of conduct for the Supreme Court, which has faced relentless public pressure over its ethical standards in the wake of reports of Justice Clarence Thomas and others accepting lavish trips and gifts from billionaires.
“The court’s current voluntary code of ethics is weak and self-enforcing. Judges should be required 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. it is bound by an applicable code of conduct and there is no reason for the Supreme Court to be exempt,” Biden wrote.
In November, the court adopted a code of ethics after months of closed-door discussions, but its lack of an enforcement mechanism has drawn criticism from Democrats and some watchdog groups.
Justice Elena Kagan endorsed an enforcement mechanism while speaking at a judicial conference last week, becoming the first current justice to publicly support it.
Biden will discuss his reform proposals during a speech at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas. The trip was originally scheduled to take place earlier this month, but Biden rescheduled it following the assassination attempt on Trump.
Alex Gangitano contributed.
Updated: 7:03 am
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
