Biden considering term limits, ethics for Supreme Court
Kelsey Reichmann
WASHINGTON (CN) — President Joe Biden plans to introduce major reforms to the Supreme Court, according to several reports.
The proposals will include key reform ideas like term limits and an enforceable ethics code, according to a report from the Washington Post citing individuals briefed on the plan.
Details on the proposal have yet to be disclosed but any reforms will likely need congressional approval, a significant barrier to their implementation. It is unlikely lawmakers will pass any major legislation before the November elections.
Supreme Court reforms have been divisive in Congress, though the public has shown bipartisan support for term limits. Life tenure was intended to protect the court’s independence but justices’ terms have increased in the last half century. Until the late 1960s, the average justice served on the court for 15 years but now they typically serve 26 years.
"The vast majority of the country, regardless of party, believes the justices shouldn't serve for life and they should be subject to basic accountability measures like the other branches,” Gabe Roth, executive director at Fix the Court, said. “After all, if the justices are going to write their policy preferences into their opinions, as they increasingly are, right and left, they should be subject to some of the same guardrails that have been placed on the political branches.”
Biden’s frustration with the Supreme Court’s rulings crescendoed this month when the conservative majority endorsed broad criminal immunity for presidents in former president Donald Trump’s fight against election subversion charges. According to the reports, Biden is also considering a constitutional amendment to address presidential immunity.
In remarks from the White House following the ruling, Biden accused the court of attacking a wide range of long-established precedents.
Biden’s previous resistance to court reform efforts seemed to have waned as the justices issued rulings at odds with the administration’s goals. During Biden’s tenure, the court overturned federal abortion rights, threw out the administration’s student loan forgiveness plan, loosened gun regulations and limited the ability of executive agencies to act on issues like climate change.
In 2021 Biden commissioned a study on potential court reforms but failed to act on the findings in the almost 300-page report despite increased scrutiny on the court.
Continued ethics lapses have put the court under the microscope, forcing the justices to sign on to an ethics code. The long-awaited action fell short of advocates' demands, however, because the justices are self-policing their adherence to the code.
Democrats' efforts to bring the court to heel have been ineffective, with the justices repeatedly refusing to discuss ethical concerns.
Roth, who has advocated for reforms, said he was pleased Biden had decided to weigh in on court reform.
"The court has long been the most powerful, least accountable part of our government, and you can't ensure the long-term success of our democracy without implementing changes to our burgeoning juristocracy,” Roth said.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment on potential reforms.