The proposal released by the White House also calls for a constitutional amendment to allow former presidents to be prosecuted for crimes alleged to have been committed while in office. The plan emerged following recent Supreme Court decisions that countered key Democratic Party policy priorities, such as defederalizing abortion and limiting the power of the administrative state. Additionally, there have been allegations that several justices are not impartial and may have conflicts of interest. In a Washington Post op-ed, Biden expressed concern over the Court’s recent decision granting presidents broad immunity from prosecution, calling it a grave danger that could be exploited in the future. “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,” he wrote. “And that’s only the beginning.” Biden also condemned the Court’s recent decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, making abortion a state issue. “What is happening now is not normal, and it undermines the public’s confidence in the court’s decisions, including those impacting personal freedoms,” Biden wrote. According to an AP-NORC poll from August 2023, most Americans support some form of term limits for Supreme Court justices. However, Biden’s plan faces strong opposition in Congress, given the current partisan split and the requirement for a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate to pass a constitutional amendment. Almost immediately, the proposal was dismissed as unlikely to succeed. “They’re very big proposals; they’re also pretty much a wishlist. This is mostly a political document, because we’re going to take it at face value, but it’s not going to happen, just so you know,” said CNN chief Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic. Speaking on CNN Newsroom, Biskupic added:President Joe Biden is proposing sweeping changes to the U.S. Supreme Court, including term limits and an enforceable code of ethics.
Just because to get this passed would be a big thing. First of all, he wants a constitutional amendment that would essentially reverse the Supreme Court’s decision just in June in the Trump case, giving former president Donald Trump broad immunity from criminal prosecution. It was a case that really shocked many people, including the Biden administration. He wants a constitutional amendment to reverse that. That’s a big lift, which would take the approval of 38 states for that. We haven’t had a new constitutional amendment since the 90’s.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said the proposal is "dead on arrival" in a statement posted to X.
"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," he wrote. "This dangerous gambit of the Biden-Harris Administration is dead on arrival in the House." President Biden’s proposal to radically overhaul the U.S. Supreme Court would tilt the balance of power and erode not only the rule of law, but the American people’s faith in our system of justice.
This proposal is the logical conclusion to the Biden-Harris Administration and…
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) July 29, 2024
