Biden Unveils Radical Supreme Court Reforms

Following a written announcement this morning, President Joe Biden will endorse sweeping changes to the Supreme Court in a speech this afternoon at the LBJ Presidential Library.

This pivot in Biden’s position comes after prolonged resistance to progressive calls for Supreme Court reforms, which he previously feared would politicize the judiciary.

But he has increasingly criticized the Supreme Court following its decision to overturn constitutional abortion protections and its ruling on presidential immunity.

In an op-ed to be published Monday morning, Biden wrote, “This nation was founded on a simple yet profound principle: No one is above the law. Not the president of the United States. Not a justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. No one.”

“I have great respect for our institutions and separation of powers. What is happening now is not normal, and it undermines the public’s confidence in the court’s decisions, including those impacting personal freedoms. We now stand in a breach.”

Central to Biden’s three-pronged reform plan is a constitutional amendment to partially overturn the Court’s immunity decision.

This amendment would clarify that former presidents do not enjoy criminal immunity from federal criminal indictments, though it would not apply to state indictments.

This directly targets the Supreme Court’s decision, which has significant implications for the legal battles facing former President Trump.

In addition to the constitutional amendment, Biden will call for 18-year term limits for Supreme Court justices, a move intended to ensure regular turnover and reduce the long-term influence of any single presidency.

“The United States is the only major constitutional democracy that gives lifetime seats to its high court justices. Term limits would help ensure that the Court’s membership changes with some regularity; make timing for Court nominations more predictable and less arbitrary; and reduce the chance that any single presidency imposes undue influence for generations to come,” reads a White House fact sheet on the proposal.

Biden will also endorse a binding code of conduct for Supreme Court justices, addressing ongoing concerns about ethical standards.

Although the Court adopted an ethics code in November after months of closed-door discussions, the lack of an enforcement mechanism has drawn criticism from Democrats and watchdog groups.

Justice Elena Kagan recently became the first sitting justice to publicly support an enforcement mechanism, advocating for it at a judicial conference last week.