Austin, Texas – President Joe Biden on Monday called for an overhaul of the Supreme Court, proposing three bold reforms to tackle presidential powers, term limits, and ethics. The reforms aim to restore trust in the courts, preserve the system of checks and balances, and prevent the court from being used to weaponize an extreme agenda.
In a speech at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library, Biden said, “We need these reforms to restore trust in the courts, preserve the system of checks and balances that are vital to our democracy.”
The proposed reforms include a constitutional amendment to limit presidential immunity, ensuring that former presidents can be held accountable for federal criminal indictments, trials, convictions, or sentencing. Biden also favors 18-year term limits for Supreme Court justices to prevent one president from having multigenerational influence on the judiciary.
Additionally, Biden called for mandatory ethics rules for the Supreme Court, focusing on financial disclosures and conflicts of interest, to ensure the court is subject to enforceable ethics requirements.
Biden’s call for reforms comes amid recent controversies involving Supreme Court justices and decisions by the conservative majority on issues like abortion rights. The president has expressed concerns that the court is not self-policing and is dealing with obvious conflicts of interest.
While the proposed reforms face an uphill battle in Congress, Biden remains committed to working with lawmakers to implement these necessary changes to protect democracy.