US President Joe Biden on Monday announced plans for urgent reforms to the conservative-dominated Supreme Court, in a bold but unlikely move as he seeks to make a mark on his final six months in power.
The 81-year-old Democrat is calling for a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's recent ruling backing Donald Trump's claims of presidential immunity, according to the White House.
The Democrat is also calling for term limits for Supreme Court justices, who currently serve for life, following shocking rulings such as repealing abortion rights nationwide.
Biden, who will reveal more details about the plans in a speech in Austin, Texas, later on Monday, will also seek an enforceable ethics code after a series of scandals.
He had confirmed he would pursue the reforms during an Oval Office speech last week outlining his priorities after deciding to drop out of the 2024 election, though the plans have little hope of passing a deeply divided Congress.
“This nation was founded on a simple but profound principle: No one is above the law. Not the president of the United States. Not a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. No one,” Biden said in an op-ed published Monday.
“What is happening now is not normal and undermines public confidence in court decisions, including those affecting personal freedoms. We are now in a situation of non-compliance.”
Though their chances are slim, the proposed reforms reflect Biden’s growing frustration with a court stacked with Trump-appointed judges and come at a time when opinion polls show a growing loss of public confidence in the institution.
The White House said both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, now the presumptive Democratic nominee for the November election, “look forward to working with Congress” on the plans.
Biden has previously resisted calls to overhaul or reform the court, which is made up of nine lifetime justices.
But the White House said Biden would now seek to limit Supreme Court justices to 18 years in office, with new justices appointed every two years.
'Close to zero'
This would “reduce the possibility of a single presidency imposing undue influence on future generations,” it said in a fact sheet.
He would also seek a “binding and enforceable” code of ethics similar to those that apply to federal judges.
The high court has a 6-3 conservative majority, with three justices who were appointed while Trump was president, and has dealt Biden several blows in recent years.
In 2022, the Supreme Court shocked the world when it overturned the 1973 Roe v Wade ruling that had upheld the federal right to abortion. At least 20 states have now enacted full or partial abortion bans.
This year, the court significantly curtailed the power of federal agencies and in early July also ruled partially in favor of Republican candidate Trump's immunity claims.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has been rocked by ethics scandals involving ultra-conservative judges.
Justice Clarence Thomas recently admitted that two luxury vacations he took in 2019 were paid for by a billionaire Republican political donor.
Thomas, the court's longest-serving justice, has also ignored calls to recuse himself from cases related to the 2020 election after his wife participated in the campaign to keep Trump in power despite his election loss.
And Justice Samuel Alito rejected calls to recuse himself from some Trump-related cases after flags linked to the former president's false claims of election fraud were found flying outside his home and vacation property.
But legal expert Steven Schwinn warned that Biden had a “nearly zero” chance of pushing through the plan.
But Biden was likely trying to “raise public awareness” and “cast the Supreme Court as an election issue,” said Schwinn, a law professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. AFP.
