The proposals face a steep uphill battle given the politically charged environment and supermajorities required to ratify constitutional amendments.
President Joe Biden on July 29 released a series of proposals for reforming the Supreme Court.
President Biden’s proposals, endorsed by likely Democratic nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris, indicate the court will become an even bigger part of the tension surrounding the 2024 presidential election.
The White House said in a statement that America’s democratic institutions are facing a “crisis of confidence” and positioned the president’s reforms as attempts to “restore trust and accountability.”
“In recent years, the Supreme Court has overturned long-established legal precedents protecting fundamental rights,” the White House said in a statement.
Congressional Democrats welcomed the proposals, while Leonard Leo, who leads The Federalist Society, a conservative legal group, disagreed with them.
“No conservative justice has made any decision in any big case that surprised anyone, so let’s stop pretending this is about undue influence,” Mr. Leo said in a statement provided to The Epoch Times. He said that he believes it is about “destroying a court they don’t agree with.”
1. Big Reforms
President Biden is pushing reforms that would be historic if enacted and would almost certainly spark legal battles that force a reconsideration of the Constitution’s separation of powers.
The president is asking for a constitutional amendment that would clarify that presidents don’t enjoy immunity from criminal prosecution. The Supreme Court ruled in Trump v. United States that the Constitution provided partial immunity from criminal prosecution based on a president’s official acts.
Even if the amendment took effect, it’s not clear how the Supreme Court would interpret the conflict it creates with the court’s view of the Constitution. The court’s opinion on immunity was based on prior precedent and another provision of the Constitution—Article II—vesting significant authority in the president.
Another of the president’s proposals is to impose term limits for Supreme Court justices.
Article III has long been considered to afford justices lifetime tenure. In an op-ed for The Washington Post, President Biden said on July 29 that he favors terms of 18 years of “active service” for justices.
By Sam Dorman
