Biden’s Beef with the Supreme Court
Joe Biden’s time in the White House is almost up, but that hasn’t stopped him from pushing his usual far-left agenda. The Washington Post published an opinion piece by President Biden at the end of July in which he calls for radical changes to the Supreme Court. While in it he doesn’t call for court packing, the plan is a political attack on the Judicial branch in response to several “dangerous and extreme decisions that overturn settled legal precedents — including Roe v. Wade.” In other words, when the left does not get what it wants, it resolves to destroy the institution.
The first reform President Biden calls for is the “No One is Above the Law Amendment” which specifically targets the recent Supreme Court decision in Trump v. United States that outlined presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts while in office. Biden writes that he shares our “Founders’ belief that the president’s power is limited” which is not in opposition to the Supreme Court’s decision. The Court said, “Under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts.” Despite the media’s attempt to spin this as outrageous, it is important under our constitutional system for the President to be able to make official decisions without the fear of constant lawsuits by his opponents. The Executive branch is subject to the checks and balances built into our system. A constitutional amendment to disrupt this system is short-sighted and blatantly political.
The second reform Biden proposes would place term limits on each Supreme Court justice. He suggests that each justice would serve 18 years staggered in a way that a new justice would be appointed every two years. But the U.S. Constitution makes clear that federal judges “shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour.” This means they are to serve without any time limitations. Even the White House’s website explains why justices serve for life:
By design, this insulates them from the temporary passions of the public, and allows them to apply the law with only justice in mind, and not electoral or political concerns.
Hypocritically, Biden boasts in the opinion piece of the 36 years he served as a United States Senator — with no term limits. Yet, he insinuates that Congress could institute term limits to make us more like other countries, but that isn’t how the process works. It would require a constitutional amendment that would need to be ratified by two-thirds of the states.
The last reform is to require binding ethics rules to replace the current self-enforced Supreme Court Code of Conduct. Biden would require justices to disclose gifts, refrain from public political activity, and recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have financial or other conflicts of interest. The current Code of Conduct explicitly requires disclosure of financial activities including gifts, implores justices to refrain from political activity, and does not allow family or other outside relationships to influence official conduct or judgement. Requiring a justice to recuse themself from a case due to their spouse’s dealings is outside of the scope of the justice’s duty and is specifically targeted at Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife, Ginni Thomas, who has been a conservative stalwart for decades.
The tone of this article is quite unserious. First, Biden rails against the actions of former President Trump and the decisions of justices in which he disagrees. This is a political hit piece and at best a campaign document. Second, the President of the United States, if serious about needed reforms, could use the various resources at his disposal to move his agenda forward — including executive orders, meeting with key officials to craft legislation, or holding press conferences. But Biden did none of these things, he simply stated his opinion and left the scene. Third, the reforms he suggests are broad and redundant. He does not make clear how the term limits would be implemented or how his plan would differ from the Supreme Court’s current ethics code.
Fortunately, Congress isn’t taking his ideas seriously either. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) gave a response on X:
President Biden’s proposal to radically overhaul the U.S. Supreme Court would tilt the balance of power and erode not only the rule of law, but the American people’s faith in our system of justice.
This proposal is the logical conclusion to the Biden-Harris Administration and Congressional Democrats’ ongoing efforts to delegitimize the Supreme Court. Their calls to expand and pack the Court will soon resume.
It is telling that Democrats want to change the system that has guided our nation since its founding simply because they disagree with some of the Court’s recent decisions. This dangerous gambit of the Biden-Harris Administration is dead on arrival in the House.
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch also weighed in on the matter during an interview with Fox News, warning Biden to “be careful” when trying to upend the Constitution’s intent of an independent judiciary. He stated:
It’s there for the moments when the spotlight’s on you, when the government’s coming after you. And don’t you want a ferociously independent judge and a jury of your peers to make those decisions? Isn’t that your right as an American?
This issue is one of the important considerations for the November elections. The attack on the independent judiciary is a poison to our Constitution. Kamala Harris not only endorses this plan, but has committed to pack the court by increasing the number of justices for her picks to get a seat. The Left’s attempt to undermine our constitutional system when they fail to get their way is a real danger. When they say “democracy is on the ballot,” they are not kidding! We must reject their attempts to discredit the Supreme Court.
