With just six months left in office, President Joe Biden announced an aggressive plan to have Congress impose term limits and ethics mandates on the U.S. Supreme Court. And while Biden’s proposal are both constitutionally questionable and almost certain not to become law, he’s got the support of both Democrats seeking their party’s nomination in New Hampshire’s Second Congressional District.
In a Washington Post article and a speech at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library in Austin, Texas, Biden presented his plan to address what he calls the Supreme Court’s “scandals” and “crisis of ethics.” Biden called for Congress to end the lifetime tenure granted to Supreme Court justices by the Constitution and to impose a code of ethics on the body.
He also wants a constitutional amendment to override the court’s recent 6-3 ruling on presidential immunity, claiming “The president is now a king above the law.”
Given Biden’s lame-duck status and the lack of support for his proposals in Congress — Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) declared them “dead on arrival” — Biden’s proposals are being dismissed by many as a political stunt designed to boost Democratic enthusiasm for November’s election.
It could work. A UNH Survey Center poll released earlier this month found just 39 percent of Granite Staters approved of how the U.S. Supreme Court is handling its responsibilities. Among Democrats, an eye-popping 97 percent disapprove.
So, perhaps it’s no surprise that Democrats Maggie Goodlander and Colin Van Ostern are both on board with Biden.
“It’s time for accountability for the US Supreme Court – as is needed in every branch of our government. Term limits [and] a binding ethics code are long overdue,” Van Ostern posted on Twitter. “Glad to see increased momentum for these reforms, which we’ve been advocating for throughout this campaign.”
Goodlander expressed her views in an interview with the Valley News.
“Congress has an essential and central role to play in checking the power of the court,” she said. The Constitution does not guarantee lifetime tenure on the country’s highest court, she said, and “the idea that Congress cannot impose a binding code of conduct and ethics on the Supreme Court is nonsense.”
Many constitutional scholars disagree, arguing that giving Congress power over the operations of the Supreme Court was precisely what the Constitution is designed to avoid.
“The Supreme Court is created by the Constitution, not by Congress and the chief justice holds a constitutional office with its own title and duties,” notes attorney Dan McLaughlin, a fellow with the National Review Institute. While Congress has the absolute right to withhold funding from the court or to impeach its members, critics say direct oversight of the justices is clearly over the line.
It’s also a massive violation of our governing norms, says George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley.
Noting that America has gone through many periods of political turmoil, “other presidents have never done this.
“For more than two centuries, even though they have had terrible disputes with the Supreme Court, they’ve never sought to deny justices their life tenure appointments on the court.”
“President Biden is citing a series of cases with which he disagrees as the basis for seeking to fundamentally change the Court. The message is clear: If the Court ruled as he demanded, it would not have to be changed.”
“What is really disappointing is that this was one of the principles still remaining for President Biden,” Turley added. “He’s long been criticized for following the polls rather than principles. But on this for 50 years [in government], he’s refused to go after the court.”
Republican Second CD candidate Lily Tang Williams defends the separation of powers.
“The Supreme Court is a co-equal branch of the government as was established by Article 3 of the U.S. Constitution. It was brilliantly created that way to protect against the more political Executive and Legislative branches. The proposal is dead on arrival.”
Not surprisingly, Donald Trump also denounced Biden’s plan.
“Kamala is on a crusade to undermine every last American institution and remake them in the Radical Left’s image so she can force through her socialist agenda — and THAT’S a real threat to democracy,” Jake Schneider, a Trump campaign spokesperson said in a statement.
