President also says presidential immunity for crimes should be removed and ethics rules for justices should be stricter

President also says presidential immunity for crimes should be removed and ethics rules for justices should be stricter

Joe Biden has called for a series of reforms to the US Supreme Court, including the introduction of term limits for justices and a constitutional amendment to remove immunity for crimes committed by a president while in office.

In an op-ed published on Monday morning, the president said justices should be limited to a maximum of 18 years’ service on the court rather than the current lifetime appointment, and also said ethics rules should be strengthened to regulate justices’ behavior.

The call for reform comes after the supreme court ruled in early July that former presidents have some degree of immunity from prosecution, a decision that served as a major victory for Donald Trump amid his legal travails.

“This nation was founded on a simple yet profound principle: No one is above the law. Not the president of the United States. Not a justice on the Supreme Court of the United States,” Biden wrote.

  • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
    69·
    2 months ago

    18 years requires that the entire Court takes 3-6 administrations to swap out, and is the shortest term in which a single President can’t replace a majority of the justices.

    With 6-year SCOTUS terms a 2-term President can select 100% of the justices on the Court, and would have a majority in their first term. It would completely remove the check against the Executive.

    • jballs@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      24·
      2 months ago

      Yeah, at the proposed rate the court would be comprised of:

      • 1 justice appointed by Bush Jr
      • 4 justices appointed by Obama
      • 2 justices appointed by Trump
      • 2 justices appointed by Biden

      So you’d have a 6-3 liberal leaning court. Which makes sense since Democrats have held the presidency for 12 of the last 18 years.