President Joe Biden seriously considering proposals on Supreme Court term limits and ethics code, AP sources say

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is seriously considering proposals to establish term limits for U.S. Supreme Court justices and a code of ethics that would be enforceable by law, amid growing concerns that judges will not be held accountable, according to three people briefed on the plans.

That would mark a significant shift for Biden, a former Senate Judiciary Committee chairman who has long opposed calls for Supreme Court reform, though he has become increasingly vocal since taking office about the court abandoning mainstream constitutional interpretation. Details were first reported by The Washington Post.

Any changes would require congressional approval, which would be unlikely in a divided Congress. But with Republican nominee Donald Trump boasting about installing three Supreme Court justices who are now part of the conservative majority, Biden’s call for major changes could assist galvanize his voters.

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Biden is also considering calling for a constitutional amendment that would strip away broad immunity granted to presidents by the court last term, after Donald Trump declared he was immune from prosecution for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of his supporters violently breached the U.S. Capitol.

The people were not authorized to speak publicly about the proposals, which have not yet been finalized; they spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The consideration of such proposals comes amid growing outrage among Democrats over high court opinions that have overturned landmark decisions on abortion rights and federal regulatory powers that stood for decades. Questions about the court’s ethics have also been mounting following revelations about some justices, including that Clarence Thomas accepted luxury trips from a GOP megadonor.

Biden, in an interview with BET on Tuesday, predicted there would be “probably two more nominations” in the next four years as justices retire and blamed Trump for nominating three conservative justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade. “Imagine what that means if he has two more nominations,” he said.

The Supreme Court did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the proposal.

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Biden, speaking on a conference call with the Congressional Progressive Caucus over the weekend, raised that possibility, the people said. Biden often tells voters they need more Democrats in Congress and a Democrat in the White House to counter the influence of the conservative court, but these proposals would go much further.

“And by the way, I’m going to need your help with the Supreme Court because I’m going to come out. I don’t want to announce it prematurely, but I’m going to come out with a major initiative on limiting the court and what we’re doing, and — I’ve been working with constitutionalists for three months now, and I need your help,” he said, according to a transcript of the call.

About 2 in 3 Americans support term limits or a mandatory retirement age for Supreme Court justices, according to a 2022 poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

A June poll of the court found that trust in it remains low: 4 in 10 American adults say they have little confidence in those running the Supreme Court.

The survey found that 7 in 10 Americans believe Supreme Court justices are more susceptible to ideological influence, while only about 3 in 10 American adults believe judges are more likely to provide an independent check on the other branches of government because they are fair and impartial.

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In November, the court adopted its first code of professional ethics. Policyagreed to by all nine judges, does not appear to impose any significant new requirements, leaving compliance entirely to the discretion of each judge.

Republicans have focused for years on overhauling the federal judiciary and the Supreme Court. When Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was majority leader, he refused to even meet with Obama’s top court nominee — now-Attorney General Merrick Garland, then a federal judge — in 2016. The nomination stalled until Republican President Trump took over.

Establishment GOP activists backed Trump because of his promise to appoint as many justices as possible. Their gamble worked. Trump ultimately had three Supreme Court nominees and 54 federal appeals court judges, changing the courts for a generation.

Democrats are finally understanding the power of judges as a voting tool, and Biden has made judicial nominations a priority, appointing a record number of judges to the presidency at this point in his first term, including some of the most diverse judicial picks yet. Biden has spoken frequently of those accomplishments during his reelection campaign, but Democrats have pressed him to go further.

Trump, in a post on his Truth Social platform, criticized Biden’s possible move, saying, “Democrats are trying to interfere in the presidential election and destroy our justice system by attacking their political opponent, the ME, and our Honorable Supreme Court. We must fight for our fair and independent courts and protect our country.”