Politics

Biden Proposes Radical Supreme Court Overhaul To Undo Presidential Immunity Decision

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(Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Reagan Reese White House Correspondent
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President Joe Biden proposed a sweeping overhaul of the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, suggesting term limits for justices and a “binding code of conduct.”

In an op-ed for The Washington Post, the president revealed a list of proposals meant to take aim at the court he says is “mired in a crisis of ethics.” As part of his three proposals, Biden called for “no immunity for crimes a former president committed in office,” less than a month after the high court ruled on former President Donald Trump’s immunity appeal. (RELATED: Supreme Court Rules Trump ‘Entitled To Immunity’ From Prosecution For Official Acts)

“He is calling for a constitutional amendment that makes clear no President is above the law or immune from prosecution for crimes committed while in office. This ‘No One Is Above the Law Amendment’ will state that the Constitution does not confer any immunity from federal criminal indictment, trial, conviction, or sentencing by virtue of previously serving as President,” a White House fact sheet reads.

Biden also proposed term limits for the Supreme Court justices, suggesting that the president appoint a justice every two years to then spend eighteen years in active service. The president called on Congress to pass a code of conduct for the justices to abide by that would require them to “disclose gifts, refrain from public political activity, and recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have financial or other conflicts of interest.”

“We can and must prevent the abuse of presidential power. We can and must restore the public’s faith in the Supreme Court. We can and must strengthen the guardrails of democracy. In America, no one is above the law. In America, the people rule,” Biden wrote.

Vice President Kamala Harris, and now presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, backed Biden in his proposals for the Supreme Court in a statement Monday.

“And finally, in our democracy, no one should be above the law. So we must also ensure that no former President has immunity for crimes committed while in the White House,” Harris said, alluding to the recent ruling surrounding Trump. The ruling found that presidents have immunity from criminal prosecution for “official acts” taken in office.

The White House fact sheet states that Biden and Harris are “looking forward” to working with Congress in an effort to “restore faith in the Supreme Court.”

“All three of these reforms are supported by a majority of Americans — as well as conservative and liberal constitutional scholars. And I want to thank the bipartisan Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States for its insightful analysis, which informed some of these proposals,” Biden wrote. “We can and must prevent the abuse of presidential power. We can and must restore the public’s faith in the Supreme Court. We can and must strengthen the guardrails of democracy.”