President Joe Biden has proposed three significant reforms to the Supreme Court, emphasizing his respect for institutions and the separation of powers. Biden argues that the current situation is not normal, citing recent court decisions and ethical concerns surrounding some justices.
Biden announced his proposed changes in an op-ed in the Washington Post, coinciding with a report from the Annenberg Public Policy Center that highlighted a significant drop in public trust in the courts, including the Supreme Court. Despite the proposed reforms, with Republicans controlling the House of Representatives, it is unlikely that Biden’s proposals will gain the necessary support in Congress.
Biden’s first proposal is a constitutional amendment to clarify that there is no immunity for crimes committed by a former president while in office. He points to the recent decision in Trump v. United States, stating that it implies virtually no limits on presidential actions. Biden emphasizes the founding principle of the United States: No one is above the law. However, amendments to the Constitution require a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress and ratification by three-quarters of the states, making passage of such an amendment highly unlikely.
Biden’s second proposal is to implement term limits for Supreme Court justices. He suggests a system where each president appoints a justice every two years, with each justice serving 18 years on the court. Biden notes that the United States is the only major constitutional democracy that grants lifetime seats to its highest court, with other democracies imposing term or age limits. Term limits, according to Biden, would reduce the chance that any single presidency could radically alter the court’s makeup for generations.
Biden’s third proposal is the establishment of a binding code of conduct for Supreme Court justices, who are currently not bound by the same code as other federal judges. Following revelations about some justices’ failures to disclose financial interests, Biden criticizes the justices’ self-enforced code of conduct as weak. He advocates for a code that requires justices to disclose gifts, refrain from public political activity, and recuse themselves from cases with financial or other conflicts of interest.
Justice Elena Kagan, who fields cases from the 9th Circuit, voiced her support for an enforcement mechanism for the courts ethics code at the annual conference held by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit last week. The 9th Circuit has jurisdiction over nine western states and two Pacific island jurisdictions.
President Biden’s op-ed, which came less than four years after his announcement during the 2020 presidential campaign, stated that if elected, he would form a bipartisan presidential commission to study changes to the Supreme Court.
The commission issued its report in December 2021. This article was originally published at Howe on the Court and is recommended for citation as follows: Eric, Biden proposes Supreme Court reforms, SCOTUSblog (Jul. 29, 2024, 12:00 AM), /2024/07/biden-proposes-supreme-court-reforms/
