Biden Calls for Sweeping SCOTUS Reforms

Improve the News Foundation -
0:00
/1861

Facts

  • Pres. Joe Biden on Monday in an opinion essay in The Washington Post called for three reforms to the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) that he claims would 'restore trust and accountability' to the court and democracy in the US.[1]
  • Biden says recent SCOTUS decisions that granted presidential immunity for actions taken while in office and overturned 'settled legal precedents' prompted his calls. He also claimed that several justices are involved in scandals that compromise the 'court's fairness and independence.'[1]
  • First among Biden's proposals is the 'No One Is Above The Law Amendment,' which would prevent future presidents from claiming a constitutional right to immunity from federal criminal indictment, trial, conviction, or sentencing.[2]
  • Biden also recommends ending lifetime appointments with SCOTUS. Instead, sitting presidents would appoint a new justice to the court to replace one of the nine justices every two years, establishing 18-year-term limits.[3]
  • Lastly, Biden, who was scheduled to speak about his reform ideas in Texas on Monday, has suggested Congress pass a law creating a court code of ethics — establishing guidelines for how justices disclose gifts, when they can engage in political activity, and how they decide whether to recuse themselves from certain cases.[4]
  • These proposals have little chance of becoming law, as it would take 60 votes in a narrowly divided Senate to overcome a potential filibuster.[2]

Sources: [1]Washington Post, [2]USA Today, [3]BBC News and [4]Associated Press.

Narratives

  • Democratic narrative, as provided by The New Republic. Gift-grabbing scandals, especially from conservative justices, have tanked SCOTUS' approval rating. America wants to believe in its highest court again, and these modest, popular proposals — which fall short of expanding the court, as many experts have recommended — would at least put the country on the road to restoring faith in SCOTUS.
  • Republican narrative, as provided by FOX News. Congress and the executive branch must stay out of the judiciary's business. Democrats only want to change the way SCOTUS operates because recent decisions didn't go their way because the justices who best stick to the proper translation of the Constitution sit in the majority. Making SCOTUS into another partisan body would tear at the foundation of US democracy.

Predictions