On July 29, 2024, President Biden called for Supreme Court “reforms,” a last-ditch effort to rally the Democrat base amid his early lame duck presidency. Beyond the sheer irrelevance of a confused Biden’s Supreme Court plan, his attempt to tarnish and minimize the judiciary is also incredibly dangerous. In an op-ed published this morning in the Washington Post, Biden demands term limits for Supreme Court Justices (which is unconstitutional), a binding code of conduct for the Supreme Court (also unconstitutional), and a constitutional amendment to counteract the Supreme Court’s recent presidential immunity decision.
Now, term limits might be popular against certain Presidents who have been in office for 54 years, but by design, the Constitution recognizes lifetime appointments to protect and insulate Justices from outside influence and partisan politics. If Judges were auditioning for their post-judicial life, political concerns and the public in general would certainly influence their judgments. Our founders desired a Supreme Court that was free from outside pressures to allow for consistency in their legal interpretations.
A binding code of ethics is unconstitutional by putting Congress above the Court, rather than sitting alongside it as a co-equal partner. But it’s also a huge distraction from, well, Democrats taking in bribes from Egypt or pushing their unqualified son on Ukrainian energy company boards. That is, it’s not the Supreme Court Americans should be worried about from an ethics perspective.
Perhaps no one cares more about a qualified and independent judiciary than a man who has dedicated his life to it, Leonard Leo. The Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Federalist Society. In a statement released today, Mr. Leo said: “No conservative justice has made any decision in any big case that surprised anyone, so let’s stop pretending this is about undue influence. It’s about Democrats destroying a court they don’t agree with.” He continued, “Let me be clear: If Democrats want to adopt an across the board ethics ban for all branches, I am in favor of that: no jets, no meals, no speaking honorariums, no gifts for anyone from anyone for any reason in any branch, starting with Congress. Until they support that, let’s all be honest about what this is: a campaign to destroy a court that they disagree with.”
At least Biden admits a constitutional amendment would be required to reverse the Supreme Court’s recent decision regarding some level of presidential immunity from criminal charges. Whether and when past Presidents should face criminal charges for official decisions they made in office is, perhaps, a question on which Americans disagree. But the real issue is that President Biden broke ground as the first President to try and jail his predecessor and political opponent, giving us this issue in the first place. Rather than acknowledging that huge shift in American politics, Biden simply reasserts false talking points that this type of immunity is necessary for our country. It isn’t.
Biden’s entire proposal to reform the Supreme Court is obviously a non-starter and thus entirely messaging. But the messaging attempts to delegitimize the Supreme Court, which is more than just a pathetic attempt to stay relevant, it harms the rule of law. Americans deserve a President who builds, not destroys. This effort to destabilize one of our most trusted institutions, the Supreme Court, will be rejected.