WASHINGTON – Before President Joe Biden leaves the Oval Office in January, he wants Congress to pass a constitutional amendment restoring criminal liability to U.S. presidents in response to the Supreme Court’s recent decision. Decision Granting comprehensive immunity to the CEO.
Biden announced the Not Above the Law Amendment on Monday and endorsed other changes to the nation’s highest court, potentially setting the tone and focus for the Democrat’s final months in office after he dropped out of the 2024 presidential race in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris.
The proposal, released without text by the White House and detailed by Biden in a Washington Post article, op-edcomes at a time when public confidence in the Supreme Court is waning following recent ethics scandals and the overturning of the Roe v. Wade decision, which went against popular opinion on abortion.
Biden is urging Congress to pass an 18-year term limit for judges, which would require the president to appoint a new judge every two years, and to approve enforceable conduct and ethics rules that require the disclosure of gifts, prohibit public political activity and ensure the dismissal of cases in which a judge or his or her spouse has financial or political involvement.
Biden’s plan to restore “confidence” in the highest court in the land will likely face an obstacle in the Republican-led House of Representatives and Senate, where Democrats have a narrow majority and reforms would be unlikely to receive the necessary 60 votes. A constitutional amendment would also have to be passed in three-quarters of the states.
US House Speaker Mike Johnson called Biden’s proposal “doomed from the start.”
Article in the Washington Post op-edBiden said the lack of legal consequences for former President Donald Trump’s role in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to prevent the peaceful transfer of power from one elected government to another, was “just the beginning.”
“The only limits will be those imposed by the person in the Oval Office,” he wrote.
He also referred to the court’s recent conduct uncovered The reports published by investigative journalists at ProPublica – including gifts and luxury trips from political donors to the judges – give cause for concern.
“What is happening now is not normal and undermines public confidence in the Court’s decisions, including those affecting personal liberties. We now stand in a breach,” Biden wrote.
Biden is expected to speak about his plan at a ceremony commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library in Texas on Monday afternoon.
Public Citizen, a group that advocates for changes to the Supreme Court, issued a statement on Monday praising Biden’s proposal.
“The public’s dramatic loss of trust in the Supreme Court undermines both the legitimacy of the court and the legitimacy of the entire judicial branch,” wrote Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the organization. “It is also critical that we repair the damage caused by the Supreme Court’s overreaching decision in the presidential immunity case and ensure that no one – including the president – is above the law.”
Johnson sharply criticized Biden’s announcement, calling it a “radical shift” and “the logical conclusion of the ongoing efforts by the Biden-Harris administration and congressional Democrats to delegitimize the Supreme Court.”
“It is telling that Democrats want to change the system that has guided our nation since its founding simply because they disagree with some of the court’s recent decisions,” the Louisiana Republican said in a statement on Monday.
But since the country’s founding, various acts of Congress have changed the court, including the number of justices, which varied from five to 10. Shortly after the Civil War, the number of justices was fixed at nine. after to the court’s historical information, which describes the changes in detail. In 1925, a law gave judges the power to decide whether to hear a case, also known as certiorari.
The Republican National Committee issued a statement accusing Biden’s plan of being “Kamala’s attempt to pack the Supreme Court with radical left-wing justices who will make decisions based on politics rather than law – and to protect their dangerously liberal policy positions from scrutiny if elected.”
Democrats criticize the court
There are already efforts underway among Democratic lawmakers to pass an enforceable code of conduct for the Supreme Court.
Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Republican-led House Oversight and Accountability Committee, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, another Democratic committee member, introduced a bill last month that would prohibit judges from accepting gifts valued at more than $50, their offices said.
The two legislators provided In early June, the court was sharply criticized in a roundtable discussion after Chief Justice John Roberts refused to take action when the New York Times revealed that shortly after the January 6 riots, an upside-down US flag – a sign of protest – flew in front of Judge Samuel Alito’s home in Virginia.
Progressive MPs unsuccessful urged Alito is expected to recuse himself from two cases related to January 6, including Trump’s request for immunity from federal election tampering charges.
A Supreme Court Ethics The invoice sponsored by Democratic Senator from Rhode Island, Sheldon Whitehouse progressive He was elected along party lines from the Senate Judiciary Committee a year ago, but did not receive a vote in the full House.
