Biden to announce support for major US Supreme Court changes

US President Joe Biden is finalising plans to endorse significant changes to the Supreme Court, including proposals for legislation to establish term limits for the justices and an enforceable ethics code, according to two people briefed on the plans, The Washington Post reported.

He is also weighing whether to call for a constitutional amendment to eliminate broad immunity for presidents and other constitutional officeholders, the sources said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations. 

This statement would bring dramatic change from Joe Biden, who as a chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, opposed progressive attempts at the court reform for years. The possible changes are in reaction to rising anger with recent ethical matters concerning Supreme Court Justice Thomas Clerance, as well as decisions made by an amid-shift majority that altered longstanding law on matters such as abortion and the federal government’s authority to regulate.

Joe Biden outlined this change slightly in the Zoom meeting with the Congressional Progressive Caucus on Saturday. “I am going to need your help in the Supreme Court because shortly, very shortly I will be coming out — I do not wish to advance this news — but shortly I will be coming out with a major initiative, reducing the Supreme Court,” Biden said in an off-camera remark cited in the transcript of the call obtained by the Washington Post on Thursday.

Getting term limits and an ethics code through congressional approval would be nearly impossible for two reasons: the House is controlled by the Republicans while the Senate has a very slim Democratic majority. At the current time, it means a 60-vote majority in the Senate would be necessary for passage of such a bill. 

To repeal any amendment, one has to go through a more rigorous process with the approval of two-thirds of both chambers or by calling a convention by two-thirds of the states and then by three-fourths of the state legislature. 

Shortly after the Washington Post published this story, former president Donald Trump criticised the move on Truth Social: "They want to cancel out the Presidential Election, and, in effect, the Justice System, by threatening their Political Rival, me, and the Honorable Supreme Court. We must defend OUR Fair and Independent Courts & our Country by voting Abbygail the God-given right to sue.”