WASHINGTON – WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden is revealing a long-awaited proposed changes to the US Supreme Court, calling on Congress to establish term limits and a code of ethics for the court’s nine justices. He is also pushing lawmakers to ratify a constitutional amendment that would limit presidential immunity.
The White House on Monday detailed the contours of Biden’s judicial proposal, which appears unlikely to be approved by a narrowly divided Congress with just 99 days to go. Election day.
Still, Democrats hope it will help focus voters as they consider their choices in a tight election. The presumptive Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, sought to frame her race against former Republican President Donald Trump as “a choice between freedom and chaos.”
The White House seeks to capitalize on growing outrage among Democrats toward the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, by issuing opinions that historic decisions annulled on the right to abortion and federal regulatory powers that lasted decades.
Liberals have also expressed dismay at revelations about what they consider to be questionable relationships and rulings by some members of the court’s conservative wing that suggest its impartiality is compromised.
“I have great respect for our institutions and the separation of powers,” argues Biden in a Washington Post opinion piece that will be published on Monday. “What is happening now is not normal and undermines public confidence in court decisions, including those that affect personal freedoms.
The president planned to talk about his proposal later Monday during a speech at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas, to mark the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act.
Biden is calling for the elimination of lifetime court appointments. He says Congress should pass legislation to establish a system in which the sitting president would nominate a judge every two years to spend 18 years serving on the court. He argues that term limits would help ensure that court members change with some regularity and add a measure of predictability to the appointment process.
He also wants Congress to pass legislation establishing a code of ethics for judges that would 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.
Biden is also asking Congress to pass a constitutional amendment that would reverse the recent Supreme Court ruling historic ruling on immunity that certain former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution.
The decision prolonged the delay in Washington’s criminal case against Trump over charges he conspired to reverse his defeat in the 2020 presidential election and the prospects that the former president could be tried before the November elections practically ended.
The last time Congress ratified an amendment to the Constitution was 32 years ago. The 27th Amendment, ratified in 1992, states that Congress can pass a bill changing the pay of members of the House and Senate, but such a change cannot take effect before the upcoming November House elections.
Trump condemned judicial reform as a desperate attempt by Democrats to “play referee.”
“The Democrats are trying to interfere in the Presidential Election and destroy our Justice System by attacking their Political Opponent, ME, and our Honorable Supreme Court. We must fight for our fair and independent courts and protect our country,” Trump posted on his Truth Social website earlier this month.
There have been growing questions surrounding the court’s ethics following revelations about some of the judges, including that Clarence Thomas accepted luxury travel from a Republican megadonor.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, appointed during the Obama administration, faced scrutiny after it was discovered that her staff frequently incited the public institutions that hosted her to buy copies of your memoirs or children’s books.
Justice Samuel Alito rejected appeals to step aside Supreme Court cases involving Trump and the Jan. 6 defendants despite an uproar over provocative flags displayed at his home, which some believe suggest sympathy for people facing charges for storming the U.S. Capitol to keep Trump in power. Alito says the flags were raised by his wife.
Trump, at the time, congratulated Alito on his social media site for “showing INTELLIGENCE, COURAGE and ‘guts’” by refusing to step aside. “All U.S. judges, justices and leaders should have such a GRIT.”
Democrats say Biden’s effort will help highlight recent high court rulings, including the 2022 ruling removing women’s constitutional protections for abortionby the conservative-majority court that includes three Trump-appointed judges.
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said in a Sunday interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Biden’s reform effort is aimed at reminding Americans that “when they vote in November, the Supreme Court will be on the ballot.” .
She added: “That’s a good reason to vote for Kamala Harris and to vote for Democrats in both the Senate and the House.”
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina dismissed that Democrats didn’t complain when a more liberal-leaning court “was putting out opinions they liked.”
“Only when we regained constitutional balance with a conservative court did the court become a threat to the country,” Graham said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” liberal court issuing opinions that basically take on every phase of American life based on the judgment of nine people.”
The announcement marks a notable development for Biden, who, as a candidate, was wary of calls for high court reform. But over the course of his presidency, he became increasingly vocal about his belief that the court had abandoned the dominant constitutional interpretation.
Last week, he announced during an Oval Office speech that he would pursue reform of the Supreme Court during his final months in office, calling it “critical to our democracy”.
Harris, in her unsuccessful bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, expressed being open to a conversation about expanding the nine-member court. The proposals released Monday do not include such an effort, something Biden, as a candidate, viewed with skepticism.
As a vice presidential candidate, Harris notably dodged questions about his previous stance on the issue during his October 2020 debate with Vice President Mike Pence.
The Harris campaign and the vice president’s aides did not respond to questions about Harris’ involvement in crafting Biden’s proposal and whether she would pursue any other court reform efforts if elected.
The White House said in a statement: “Biden and Vice President Harris look forward to working with Congress and empowering the American people to prevent abuse of presidential power, restore faith in the Supreme Court, and strengthen the barriers protecting democracy.”
___
Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
