Biden Urges Supreme Court Reforms, Including 18-year Term Limit

WASHINGTON, July 29 (Bernama-dpa) -- US President Joe Biden unveiled on Monday a plan to reform the Supreme Court, including term limits for the nine justices and an enforceable code of ethics, reported German news agency (dpa). 

Actually making changes to the functioning of the top court would be an onerous process. But by putting the plan front and centre, Biden is making the court an issue in the final months of the 2024 race.

The court's standing among the public has fallen over the years. It is increasingly viewed not as an impartial check on the power of the executive and legislative branches, but as just another partisan institution in Washington.

The White House said that the Supreme Court justices, who are appointed by presidents and confirmed by the Senate, have been overturning "long-established legal precedents protecting fundamental rights".

It said the court's 6-3 conservative majority "has gutted civil rights protections, taken away a woman's right to choose, and now granted presidents broad immunity from prosecution for crimes they commit in office," referring to a recent decision impacting former president Donald Trump's criminal cases.

Biden's reforms would strip the justices of their lifetime appointments. The president is proposing an 18-year term.

In an opinion piece written for The Washington Post, Biden said that term limits would "reduce the chance that any single presidency radically alters the make-up of the court for generations to come".

The second major reform is what the White House calls "binding, enforceable conduct and ethics rules" for the nine judges. 

It would require them to disclose gifts, refrain from political activity, and recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouse have conflicts of interest.

-- BERNAMA-dpa