Chicago – July 30, 2024
US President Joe Biden has unveiled proposals to reform the Supreme Court, calling on Congress to impose term limits on justices and impose new ethics rules.
Biden outlined his plans for the conservative-led Supreme Court in an opinion piece on Monday, saying they are needed to “restore trust and accountability to the court and our democracy”.
The reforms, which would need to be passed by Congress, include setting Supreme Court justices’ terms at 18 years and establishing a stricter ethics code for them, similar to that governing federal judges.
Biden is also urging for a constitutional amendment that would undermine the Supreme Court’s recent ruling backing Donald Trump’s claims to presidential immunity.
“This nation was founded on a simple yet profound principle: No one is above the law,” Biden wrote in The Washington Post.
“Not the president of the United States. Not a justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. No one,” said Biden, who previously had been wary of calls to reform the court.
He added: “We can and must prevent the abuse of presidential power. We can and must restore the public’s faith in the Supreme Court. We can and must strengthen the guardrails of democracy.”
