Biden pushes to reform Supreme Court after decisions on abortion, presidential immunity

President Joe Biden on July 29 announced support for a constitutional amendment that will clarify that presidents are not immune from prosecution for criminal behavior in office, as well as for sweeping reforms to the Supreme Court.

The announcement comes after mounting criticism of the Supreme Court, which in 2022 eliminated the national right to abortion and on July 1 ruled that presidents have immunity from criminal prosecution for “official acts” taken while in office — a decision that legal experts have raised serious concerns about.

In an op-ed published in the Washington Post, Biden called for term limits and a binding code of ethics for Supreme Court justices, and called for a constitutional amendment intended to hold former presidents accountable for crimes committed while in office.

“I share our Founders’ belief that the president’s power is limited, not absolute. We are a nation of laws — not kings or dictators,” Biden wrote.

The proposed reforms come at a time when the Supreme Court is less popular than ever. A Data for Progress poll from July found that 74% of likely voters support term limits for Supreme Court justices. The same poll showed 61% of likely voters are concerned the Supreme Court is biased toward conservative causes.

The court’s unpopular decisions in recent years were made possible by its 6-3 right-wing supermajority — cemented by former President Donald Trump when he appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, has said she supports the reforms advanced by Biden.

“There is a clear crisis of confidence facing the U.S. Supreme Court,” Harris wrote on X. “That is why President Joe Biden and I are calling on Congress to pass important reforms — from imposing term limits to requiring compliance with binding ethics rules. And in our democracy, no one should be above the law. So we must also ensure that no former president has immunity for crimes committed while in the White House.”

Trump has already begun trying to use the court’s recent immunity ruling to overturn his recent conviction on 34 felony counts of falsified business records related to his plan to pay off pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels to keep her from publicly stating she and Trump had sex while he was married. A separate case examining allegations that Trump mishandled national security records is also headed to a federal appeals court and possibly the U.S. Supreme Court after a judge appointed by Trump threw the case out. And the immunity decision also calls into question whether Trump could be held accountable for allegedly trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Biden’s proposals would also limit Supreme Court justices to 18-year terms, rather than the life appointments they currently have, with the president appointing a new justice every two years.

“Term limits would help ensure that the court’s membership changes with some regularity,” Biden wrote. “That would make timing for court nominations more predictable and less arbitrary. It would reduce the chance that any single presidency radically alters the makeup of the court for generations to come.”

Biden pointed out that presidential term limits have existed for three-quarters of a century.

“We should have the same for Supreme Court justices,” the president wrote. “The United States is the only major constitutional democracy that gives lifetime seats to its high court.”

Biden also proposed a binding code of ethics for Supreme Court justices. This move comes after Justice Clarence Thomas was found to have accepted millions of dollars’ worth of gifts from wealthy benefactors without disclosing them, including trips on the luxury yacht and private plane of billionaire Republican donor Harlan Crow. The donor even paid for the private school tuition of Thomas’ grandnephew, whom Thomas was raising at the time. The justice claimed he wasn’t aware he needed to disclose the gifts, blaming bad advice from colleagues regarding financial disclosures.

The Supreme Court did publish a code of ethics in November 2023, but Biden charges that the self-enforced code is weak and ineffective.

“Justices should be required 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,” the president wrote. “Every other federal judge is bound by an enforceable code of conduct, and there is no reason for the Supreme Court to be exempt.”

Biden wrote that his proposed reforms come at a critical moment in United States history.

“We can and must prevent the abuse of presidential power,” Biden wrote. “We can and must restore the public’s faith in the Supreme Court. We can and must strengthen the guardrails of democracy. In America, no one is above the law. In America, the people rule.”