President Biden’s three-part proposal for Supreme Court reform, including a constitutional amendment, is likely doomed from the start because it would require significant support in a nearly balanced Congress and in state legislatures.
Biden unveiled his plans to reform the Supreme Court on Monday morning after the conservative-majority court recently handed down several decisions that went against Democrats.
His brief included term limits for Supreme Court justices, who currently serve life terms, an enforceable ethics code and a proposed constitutional amendment to overturn a recent ruling that effectively gives former presidents immunity from prosecution for their work while in office.
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Biden unveiled plans to reform the Supreme Court. (Evan Vucci via The Associated Press)
Biden specifically called for a “no one is above the law” amendment, saying the Constitution should clarify that former presidents do not receive immunity from federal prosecution, trial, conviction or sentencing by reason of their status as former president.
To amend the Constitution, an amendment must be proposed by two-thirds of both houses of Congress, then ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures or state assemblies, and may also be proposed by two-thirds of the states in a state legislature convened for the purpose.
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The Supreme Court is a frequent target of protests. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)
The constitution has only been amended 27 times in total, with the last amendment being approved more than 30 years ago in 1992.
With the margins between Democrats and Republicans in both the House and Senate being so narrow, state governments generally divided, and Democrats holding three branches of government on so few bills, the chances of passage of any amendment, especially one supported by only one party, are doubtful at best.
Biden also proposed approving term limits for Supreme Court justices. In 1951, the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, limiting the term of a U.S. president to two terms. The new amendment came shortly after the term of the late President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was elected to four consecutive terms, ended.
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Supreme Court Justices pose for an official photograph at the Supreme Court. (Photo: Olivier Dourilley/AFP via Getty Images)
Ratifying an amendment imposing term limits on judges would be similarly difficult.
Moreover, if Democrats tried to pass term limits into law, even if they had the votes to do so, they would almost certainly be challenged in court, where the law could be struck down because term limits are not in the Constitution.
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A photo of U.S. President Joe Biden standing side by side with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. (Getty Images)
The president also called on Congress to pass legislation establishing an enforceable code of ethics for the Supreme Court that would require disclosure of gifts, require judges to refrain from public political activity, and avoid involvement in cases in which they or their spouses may have a conflict of interest.
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Such a bill would likely need 60 votes to pass the House and overcome a Senate filibuster, a threshold unlikely to be met in a divided Congress, after Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York chose not to introduce a Democratic bill to impose ethics rules on the courts.
Schumer’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital for comment by publication time.
