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Biden wants to remake the Supreme Court

Biden added that the president should be able to appoint a Supreme Court justice every two years for an eighteen-year term rather than allow for lifetime appointments.

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The proposed amendment marks a reaction to the Supreme Court ruling on behalf of former President Donald Trump earlier this summer and concluding that presidents have immunity for certain official acts. File Image.

President Joe Biden released a set of proposals that would change the structure of the Supreme Court through term limits and a code of personal conduct.

 

The current Supreme Court, which has a conservative majority, has overturned pro-abortion decisions, limited affirmative action, curtailed the administrative state, and otherwise opposed some progressive policy priorities. Biden wrote in an opinion piece for The Washington Post that he will advocate for reforms to the Supreme Court in his final months as commander-in-chief.

 

 

Biden said the nation should approve a constitutional amendment that would make clear “there is no immunity for crimes a former president committed while in office.” The proposed amendment marks a reaction to the Supreme Court ruling on behalf of former President Donald Trump earlier this summer and concluding that presidents have immunity for certain official acts.

 

Biden added that the president should be able to appoint a Supreme Court justice every two years for an eighteen-year term rather than allow for lifetime appointments. “That would make timing for court nominations more predictable and less arbitrary,” he said. “It would reduce the chance that any single presidency radically alters the makeup of the court for generations.”

 

 

The opinion piece for The Washington Post repeatedly referenced the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and related opinions. Biden said the decision was “dangerous and extreme” and claimed the move undermined “the public’s confidence in the court’s decisions.”

 

Biden also called for a “binding code of conduct” for the Supreme Court under which justices must “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.” Democrats have alleged that Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Samuel Alito, two of the most conservative members of the current Supreme Court, have violated such standards on multiple occasions.

 

 

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

 

The proposals come after Biden announced that he will cease his reelection campaign and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, rendering her the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.

 

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