A prominent conservative activist and philanthropist is speaking out against President Biden’s newly announced plan to overhaul the Supreme Court and impose ethics rules, saying if the president is “really serious” about such reforms he should start with Congress, where “the real corruption is.”
On Monday, President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris signaled their support for Supreme Court reforms, including term limits, a constitutional amendment to limit presidential immunity and new ethics rules — most of which some legal experts say are unconstitutional.
In an op-ed published in the Washington Post on Sunday, Biden said he had “great respect for our institution and the separation of powers,” but argued that “what is happening now is not normal and undermines public confidence in the Supreme Court’s decisions, including those that affect individual liberties. We are now in a crisis.”
Leonard Leo, co-chair of the conservative legal network The Federalist Society and an individual who reportedly helped the Trump administration select Supreme Court nominees, accused Biden of bluffing.
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Leonard Leo spoke at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC on April 23, 2019. (Michael Robinson Chavez/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“Conservative justices have never ruled in a major case that would surprise anyone, so let’s stop pretending this is about undue influence,” Leo said in a statement.
“This is Democrats destroying a court they don’t agree with. If President Biden and the Democrats were truly serious about ethics reform, they would ban gifts and entertainment of all kinds to public officials in every branch of government, including Congress, where the real corruption is,” he continued.
Democrats plan to confirm their nominees in a virtual roll call weeks before the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to avoid legal disputes.
Leonard Leo attended the 2023 Antonin Scalia Memorial Dinner, held as part of the Federalist Society’s National Lawyers Conference, on November 9, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“They will close all the loopholes that allow lawmakers to travel on private jets to luxury hotels and restaurants. When it comes to judges, they will also target the most visible and dangerous forms of influence play: when liberal judges socialize with influential people in places like law schools, bar associations, progressive think tanks and their conferences, and other organizations and events funded by left-wing billionaires, and uphold real vested interests in the work of the Supreme Court,” he added.
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Leonardo Leo (center) chaired the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom meeting in Washington, DC, on September 17, 2009. (Shaun Tandon/AFP via Getty Images)
Biden is a new supreme court The code of conduct should require judges 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.”
“Let me be very clear,” Leo said, “if Democrats want to implement a blanket ethics ban across all branches, I’m for it. No jets, no meals, no speaking fees, no gifts from anyone, for any reason, in any branch, including Congress.”
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“Until they support it, let’s all be honest and admit this for what it is: a campaign to destroy a court they don’t agree with,” he concluded.
Biden is scheduled to speak about his proposed Supreme Court reforms on Monday afternoon.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
