President Biden is urging an encodable ethics code and term limits on Supreme Court justices
The proposals are hailed by Democrats as necessary to preserving democracy and slammed by Republicans as a power play
The reforms will likely never pass but do highlight an effort to punish a conservative court
The story
On Monday, President Biden released plans to reform the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) following several “scandals” and the recent Trump v. United States decision, which grants former presidents immunity from prosecution for “official acts.” Biden proposed an enforceable ethics code, 18-year term limits, and a “No One is Above the Law Amendment” to overturn Trump v. United States.
Democrats have spotlighted supposed scandals related to Supreme Court justices allegedly accepting millions of dollars in gifts, pushing book sales, and conducting personal business with people who had legal business before the court.
However, none of these justices ever committed a crime. And Justice Samuel Alito, in particular, has been raked over the coals in ginned-up controversies that are now being used as an excuse to declare war on the court.
For years, left-wing politicians have demanded the resignations of SCOTUS justices for “potential” ethics violations, despite no actual wrongdoing being proven, and have even called for packing the court with more liberal justices simply to punish the court for leaning conservative in its legal application.
Amid the heated Democrat rhetoric toward conservative justices after the leaked reports of Roe v. Wade being overturned, a man was arrested outside Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home with the intent to murder him — a monumental story that largely flew under the radar.
Biden's proposed reforms are emerging just three months before the presidential election, when optics are crucial. Additionally, key aspects of the president’s progressive agenda were recently thwarted by a series of Supreme Court decisions, in particular, their rejection of student loan forgiveness.
As President Biden transitions out of public life, he strives to solidify his legacy with a final effort to appease his left-wing base by upending a conservative majority court — an institution intended to remain independent of executive and legislative agendas.
The politics
On Monday, the president released an op-ed in the Washington Post arguing for SCOTUS reforms, expressing concerns about “undisclosed gifts to justices” and “conflicts of interest connected with Jan. 6 insurrectionists.”
He highlighted concerns about the impact of “broad immunity” on the conduct of future presidents, the unusual nature of lifetime SCOTUS appointments compared with other democracies, and SCOTUS decisions “impacting personal freedoms.”
Republicans have long opposed Democrat efforts to reform the court, labeling them “retaliation” for conservative decisions on abortion, climate change, student debt, and presidential immunity. Biden states clearly that the conservative SCOTUS majority’s decisions interfered with his agenda and are indeed a major reason for proposed reforms.
Federalist Society Co-Chairman Leonard Leo fired back, arguing that the proposal is a power grab by Democrats bent on “destroying a court they don’t agree with.” He lambasted Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) for introducing articles of impeachment against Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. He decried the reforms as hypocrisy, saying he supports them only if there are “no gifts … for any reason in any branch [of government].”
Beyond the headlines
Given extreme political polarization and Republican control of the House of Representatives, passing reforms via Constitutional amendment isn’t possible. Constitutional amendments are very difficult to legislate, requiring three-fourths of state legislatures and a supermajority in both houses of Congress.
However, President Biden’s proposals are at the very least a signal to his base that nothing is beyond politicization, even the nation’s highest court.
Biden wrote, “Term limits would help ensure that the court’s membership changes with some regularity” and that “it would reduce the chance that any single presidency radically alters the makeup of the court for generations to come.” The president’s calls for term limits appear less as a neutral enhancement to the court and more as a politically charged move to punish justices for defying Democratic priorities.
Further, left-wing dark money groups like Stand Up America have been actively mobilizing Democrat voters to support Biden, emphasizing that his election could lead to replacing justices and “potentially reshaping the Court for generations to come.”
In the wake of Biden’s SCOTUS plans, Stand Up America said they “applaud President Biden and Vice President Harris for supporting urgently-needed reforms” for the court. The group, which launched a $1 million digital campaign urging progressives to vote for Biden, is now crusading for SCOTUS reform alongside much of the media and Democratic politicians.
However, they, the media, and Democratic politicians remained silent during the Obama administration when the Supreme Court upheld major left-wing priorities like same-sex marriage and Obamacare. Now that conservative justices make up the majority of the court, critical action is needed.
Why it matters
President Biden very likely knows his proposals will never be implemented as a constitutional amendment. The proposed reforms resemble a Congressional messaging bill, intended to send a message that Democrats are willing to constrain a conservative-leaning Supreme Court.
While Americans have decreasing trust in the high court, the president’s reforms underscore his pernicious intention to turn the institution into just another political body. It is an acceptance of the exaggerated controversies surrounding Justices Alito and Thomas, and tells Americans that Republican-appointed justices are illegitimate.
