Evelyn Hochstein/Reuters
President Joe Biden attends a campaign event in Manassas, Virginia, on January 23, 2024.
CNN
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President Joe Biden plans to call for major reforms to the Supreme Court on Monday, according to a White House official, which would make him the first sitting president in generations to back dramatic changes to how the nation’s highest court operates.
Biden’s proposed reforms — which call for a constitutional amendment to strip presidential immunity for crimes committed while in office, term limits for Supreme Court justices and a binding code of conduct for the court — have little chance of passing in a divided Congress. But they serve as an election-year message to galvanize the party’s progressive base. Vice President Kamala Harris, now the leading Democratic presidential candidate, quickly endorsed the proposed reforms, which come at a time when the Supreme Court is deeply unpopular.
Biden is set to make the announcement at an event in Austin, Texas, marking the passing of the Civil Rights Act, following a landmark Supreme Court decision this month granting presidents complete immunity for some actions while in office and a series of revelations that justices have accepted vacations and gifts from wealthy conservative donors.Democrats on the campaign trail frequently point to the court’s conservative majority, solidified by former President Donald Trump, to underscore how important the 2024 election is.
A White House official said Biden would push for an amendment dubbed the “No Person Is Above the Law Amendment,” which provides that the Constitution “does not grant immunity from Federal criminal prosecution, trial, conviction, or sentence by reason of having served as President.”
Biden also plans to seek term limits on Supreme Court justices, who are appointed for life, as a further amendment to the Constitution.
Biden’s proposed reforms would require congressional approval, a feat that would be difficult to get before the end of his term with Republicans controlling the House and Democrats holding a slim majority in the Senate, while a constitutional amendment would require a more complicated process involving states that would make it nearly impossible to succeed.
White House officials said the reforms, which will face stiff resistance, are aimed at “restoring trust and accountability to the president and the United States Supreme Court.”
CNN reported this month that Biden is seriously considering supporting major Supreme Court reforms that have been pushed for in recent years by liberal lawmakers and groups.
Monday’s announcement comes more than three years after Biden created a commission to look at structural reforms to the Supreme Court, including term limits and proposals to increase the number of justices. The commission submitted a report to the White House in late 2021, but the administration did not pursue any of the ideas discussed in the document.
The debate over the Supreme Court’s structural reform bill has become deeply partisan, with Republicans widely opposed to it. However, the issue has drawn renewed attention since reports in May revealed that a controversial flag had previously been flown on property owned by conservative Justice Samuel Alito. The two flags were raised by rioters during the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, but Justice Alito has denied any connection to that incident, saying his wife had raised them for other reasons, including an argument with a neighbor.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has issued several controversial decisions this summer that drew sharp criticism from the left, including a shocking 6-3 decision granting Trump broad immunity from criminal prosecution for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Last year, the Supreme Court adopted its own code of conduct, but the measure was roundly criticized by ethics experts because it lacked any means to enforce its requirements. Liberal Justice Elena Kagan defended the code in remarks last week, but acknowledged that it would be more effective if it included enforcement measures.
Biden’s proposal comes as polls show support for the Supreme Court near its lowest level ever. A Marquette Law School poll in May found that 61% of Americans disapproved of the court’s job. Just four years ago, the same poll had the court’s approval rating at 66%.
Democrats have sought to capitalize on public discontent with the Supreme Court, particularly its 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, to sway voters. Biden and Harris have made the ruling a central argument in their campaign, hoping the abortion rights issue will energize voters ahead of November.
In a statement released by her campaign on Monday, Harris said she supported the proposed amendments, saying they would “restore confidence in the Supreme Court, strengthen our democracy, and ensure that no one is above the law.”
She also said the “Supreme Court is clearly facing a crisis of credibility.”
“Throughout our nation’s history, confidence in the United States Supreme Court has been essential to ensuring equal justice under the law,” Harris wrote. “President Biden and I believe strongly that the American people must have confidence in the Supreme Court. Yet today, with numerous ethics scandals and a series of decisions overturning long-standing precedents calling into question the Court’s impartiality, the Court is clearly facing a crisis of confidence.”
Biden, a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee who has resisted his party’s calls to expand the Supreme Court, has become increasingly critical of the court’s makeup, describing it as “out of balance” and warning about the impact a reelection of President Donald Trump could have on the nation’s highest court.
Biden, in his first visit since dropping out of the 2024 presidential race, will make a pitch for reform at the presidential library dedicated to President Lyndon B. Johnson, who ended his own reelection bid in 1968. Biden will also deliver a speech marking the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, the landmark law that cemented Johnson’s legacy.
CNN’s MJ Lee and Devan Cole contributed to this report.
