President Joe Biden on Monday called for Supreme Court reform, including term limits for judges, binding codes of conduct and ethics and a constitutional amendment to strip the president of immunity from prosecution.
Presidential immunity
“This country was founded on a simple yet profound principle: No one is above the law — not the president of the United States, not a justice of the United States Supreme Court, not anyone,” Biden will write in an op-ed to be published on Monday, according to a White House official.
“President Biden shares the Founding Fathers' belief that presidential power is limited, not absolute, and that it ultimately belongs to the people,” the official said. “He has sought a constitutional amendment to make clear that no president is above the law or immune from prosecution for crimes committed while in office.”
Biden is expected to make the case for these reforms during a speech at the LBJ Library in Austin marking the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act.
Amending the Constitution is not easy. It must be proposed by a two-thirds majority in both the House and the Senate, or 34 states must call a constitutional convention. From there, the 38 state legislatures must approve it. The last amendment to the Constitution was the 27th Amendment in 1992, which changed the pay of Congress.
Biden's op-ed came after the Supreme Court ruled earlier this month that former President Donald Trump was entitled to certain immunity from liability, finding that former presidents have absolute immunity for “core” official acts.
Supreme Court Term Limits
White House officials said Biden has asked Congress to limit Supreme Court justices to 18 years in term time and require the president to appoint them every two years. Currently, justices are appointed for life.
“I served for 36 years as a senator, including as chairman and ranking member of the Judiciary Committee,” Biden is expected to say in the op-ed. “As a senator, vice president and president, I have overseen more Supreme Court nominations than anyone living today. I have great respect for our institution and the separation of powers. What is happening now is not normal and undermines public confidence in the decisions of the Supreme Court, including those that affect individual liberties. We are now in a crisis.”
The official said Biden also wants to establish term limits for the Supreme Court, similar to presidential term limits.
“The United States is the only major constitutional democracy that bestows lifetime tenure on Supreme Court justices,” the official added. “Term limits would help ensure a consistent turnover of Supreme Court justices over time and make the timing of Supreme Court nominations more predictable and less arbitrary. They would also reduce the possibility of a president exerting undue influence on future generations in a single generation.”
Supreme Court Code of Conduct
Additionally, Biden wants the Supreme Court to establish a binding and enforceable code of conduct and ethics that 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,” a White House official said.
“Supreme Court justices should not be exempt from the enforceable standards of conduct that apply to all other federal judges,” the officials argued.
The official said the President's Commission on the U.S. Supreme Court has provided Biden with an analysis of proposed reforms, which he said he appreciates.
The Supreme Court's nine justices signed a new formal code of conduct in November, but critics say it is not binding and is merely a “friendly proposal.”
Biden's calls for Supreme Court reform come more than a year after ProPublica first reported that Justice Clarence Thomas had accepted lavish travel and entertainment perks from billionaire Republican donors and that Justice Samuel Alito had failed to report lavish vacations with a wealthy hedge fund manager who later did business on the Supreme Court.
Justice Alito denied the allegations, arguing that justices have “generally interpreted” entertainment rules to mean that lodging and transportation for social events are not reportable gifts. He also argued that he was unaware of the executive's involvement in cases before the court and that his conversations with the man were limited and did not involve him or court business. “Such personal entertainment from close friends unrelated to the court is not reportable,” Justice Thomas said in a statement at the time.
The Supreme Court released new financial disclosures last month that shed light on some of the justices' income and off-court engagements, but did not include some key information that critics said would provide a more complete picture. Justices Alito and Thomas' disclosures had not been released at the time.
Later that day, Thomas publicly disclosed for the first time that he had taken trips to Bali, Indonesia, and the Bohemian Grove Club in California in July 2019. Both trips were paid for by billionaire Harlan Crow. The trips, which included an overnight hotel stay in Bali and a three-night stay at a private club, were not reported by Thomas.
In May, The New York Times published a photo of an upside-down American flag flying outside Alitos' Virginia home a few weeks after the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Rioters and associated groups have been known to fly the American flag upside down as a form of protest against Biden's 2020 election victory.
At the time, Governor Alito said in a statement to The New York Times that his wife, Martha Ann Alito, was upset about a neighbor's “offensive” yard sign and that it was her wife who put the flag up that way.
The reports about the flag come while a related case relating to January 6 is pending before the Supreme Court.
On Sunday, ahead of Biden's announcement, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina was asked by CBS if he would be willing to work with the president on court reform. Graham rejected the idea, saying Democrats were “trying to undermine a conservative court.”
When asked directly if he supports term limits, Graham responded, “No, no, no, no.”
