CV NEWS FEED // The Biden-Harris administration on Monday morning announced a proposed package “bold reforms” of the Supreme Court, a move the far left wing of the Democratic Party has increasingly pushed for since the high court repealed Roe v. Wade.
Biden’s government X (formerly Twitter) account wrote in a post announcing the proposal: “This nation was founded on a simple yet profound principle: No one is above the law.”
“Not the President of the United States,” his account continued. “Not a justice on the Supreme Court of the United States.”
“So today, I’m calling for three bold reforms to restore trust and accountability to the court and our democracy,” Biden’s account wrote:
1. No more immunity for crimes a former president committed while in office
2. Term limits for Supreme Court justices
3. A binding code of conduct for the Supreme Court
FOX News reported that presumptive Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris “endorsed the push.”
Harris stated: “Today, there is a clear crisis of confidence facing the Supreme Court as its fairness has been called into question after numerous ethics scandals and decision after decision overturning long-standing precedent.”
The first of the administration’s three proposed “reforms” seeks to neutralize the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump v. United States earlier this month.
The Court’s July 1 ruling preserved “presidential immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts,” CatholicVote’s Erika Ahern reported at the time. “The case guts the federal prosecution of former President Donald J. Trump for interference in the 2020 election.”
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The other two “reforms” proposed by the Biden-Harris administration both seek to weaken the power of the six justices who were in the Court’s majority for Trump v. United States.
The same six justices were in the majority for the Court’s landmark June 24, 2022 decision Dobbs v. Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization. Five of the six justices that same day further ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade, making abortion a state issue for the first time in nearly 50 years.
All six of these justices – widely referred to as the court’s “conservative majority” – were appointed by Republican presidents. Three were appointed by Trump, two by George W. Bush, and one – Associate Justice Clarence Thomas – by George H.W. Bush.
The Biden-Harris administration’s proposal to create a “code of conduct” is likely meant to target Clarence Thomas. Thomas, a Catholic, is the Court’s most senior member and arguably one of its most conservative.
The “code of conduct” proposal plays into a discredited Democratic claim that Thomas “accepted gifts” from a couple with whom he and his wife are friends in exchange for conservative rulings.
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As CatholicVote noted in November 2023: “Thomas responded to the allegations by simply pointing out that he and his wife enjoy the other couple’s company and regularly go on vacations with them.”
“Leftist attacks against Thomas intensified after the leak of the Court’s draft Dobbs opinion in May 2022,” CatholicVote added. “On the day the Dobbs decision was announced the following month, a pro-abortion mob ambushed the justice outside of his home.”
In mid-2023, it was revealed that multiple supposed “ethics experts” whom leftists heavily cited in their attacks on Thomas were donors to the Democratic Party.
The administration explained the alleged reason behind the reforms in an op-ed attributed to Biden and published in The Washington Post Monday morning.
“[T]he Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision on July 1 to grant presidents broad immunity from prosecution for crimes they commit in office means there are virtually no limits on what a president can do,” Biden claimed in the op-ed:
The only limits will be those that are self-imposed by the person occupying the Oval Office.
If a future president incites a violent mob to storm the Capitol and stop the peaceful transfer of power — like we saw on Jan. 6, 2021 — there may be no legal consequences.
And that’s only the beginning.
“On top of dangerous and extreme decisions that overturn settled legal precedents — including Roe v. Wade — the court is mired in a crisis of ethics,” added the op-ed.
Biden was primarily referring to the aforementioned heavily disputed leftist allegations against Thomas.
A chorus of critics quickly denounced the trio of proposals as part of a “court-packing” push.
“Apparently for Democrats, ‘protecting our institutions’ requires destroying them,” wrote Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-TN, on X.
“This is court packing,” he continued. “It would kick two Republican-appointed justices off the Supreme Court and eliminate judicial independence. Truly radical.”
The Dispatch’s John McCormack pointed out that the Biden-Harris-backed bill to impose “term limits” on the Supreme Court will force the Court’s two most senior justices – both Republican appointees – into retirement and replace them with Biden-Harris appointees.
“In other words, the term-limit bill accomplishes the same objective as the Court-packing bill, which would increase the number of justices from 9 to 13, thus creating a progressive majority of 7-6,” McCormack explained.
Christian political consultant Ralph Reed wrote: “Biden & Harris, who claim they are all that can defend the Constitution, both back the most extreme court packing scheme since FDR’s was soundly rejected in 1938.”
Reed went on to call the proposal “a raw political power grab that undermines democracy and the rule of law.”
Political scientist Wilfred Reilly implied in an X post that Biden was essentially making the argument: “Completely changing the nature of the Supreme Court, and probably packing it, is essential to Save Our Democracy (TM).”
In an op-ed for Newsmax, pro-life Catholic columnist Michael Dorstewitz predicted that the Biden-Harris administration’s wish list of “reforms” will “fail before it starts.”
“With less than six months remaining in his presidency, any efforts to “reform” a court that needs no reforming are akin to a hamster in a treadwheel,” Dorstewitz wrote. “No matter how fast [Biden] runs, he’s not going to make any headway.”
Other critics pointed out that Biden – who dropped out of the presidential race and promptly endorsed Harris just over a week and a half ago – is now a “lame duck” president.
Comedian and political commentator Tim Young quipped, “Lame Duck Biden is pushing for amendments to the Constitution to continue to try to lock up Trump…”
Moreover, some critics noted that the proposed reforms run counter to Article III, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution, which states that “The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behaviour.”
The Article means that Supreme Court Justices can serve for life unless they are impeached and convicted of a crime.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-TX, wrote on X: “President Biden doesn’t like the Constitution; calls for a new one.”
Finally, Article III Project Senior Counsel Will Chamberlain specifically took aim at the Biden-Harris proposal to target Trump’s immunity.
“President Biden should put his money where his mouth is and formally waive any claim to Presidential immunity he might have,” wrote Chamberlain.
