Biden pushes for Supreme Court overhaul with term limits and ethics code

According to several sources, President Joe Biden has finalized plans to support proposals that would establish an enforceable code of ethics and place term limits on judges on the Supreme Court.

The main change under consideration is term limitations for the judges of the Supreme Court, who are now appointed for life. This would be a major change from the way things are now done and would try to address worries about the ideological balance of the court changing over time.

Apart from term restrictions, Biden is also considering measures to strengthen the Supreme Court’s supervision and ethical guidelines. This involves giving justices a legally binding code of conduct, which the court does not yet have. Calls for increased accountability have grown in response to the disclosures on the behavior of Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

Progressive Pressure on Biden and Supreme Court Reform

The planned changes follow a string of significant decisions on abortion rights, gun control, and presidential immunity delivered by the conservative majority on the Supreme Court. Progressive organizations are now putting more pressure on Biden to address the composition and ethics of the court.

But with Congress divided, any changes to the Supreme Court would encounter formidable obstacles. To implement such reforms, Democrats would have to overcome resistance from Republicans, which is unlikely to happen in a House controlled by the Republicans. Regarding the President’s plans and the expected time of his announcement, the White House has refrained from offering more information.

Not to be forgotten, a recent decision by the Supreme Court granted Trump immunity from prosecution for some acts committed while in office. By a vote of 6-3, the court held that former presidents are completely immune from their fundamental constitutional rights, but not for their informal actions.

This means that while Trump is protected from prosecution for acts connected to his official duties, he is not for his personal affairs. The decision, which was made on July 1, 2024, is regarded as a major win for Trump and may postpone his trial in the 2020 election tampering case until after the next presidential election.

In an attempt to balance the ideological scales in favor of the New Deal, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed legislation in 1937 to increase the size of the Supreme Court by up to 6 justices. However, the plan was ultimately shot down by Roosevelt’s Democratic party, which claimed it was unconstitutional.

Efforts have been made in the past to remove Supreme Court justices in other ways, such as by proposing a constitutional amendment that would give Congress the authority to do so. Attempts to remove justices directly have not always succeeded because political resistance and the high threshold for impeachment have made it difficult to implement these reforms.

You might also be interested in – Kamala Harris is the top contender to replace Joe Biden if he steps down from the US presidential election