It appears President Joe Biden is finally ready to do something about the out-of-control Supreme Court, even if that something is more of a campaign tactic since it involves legislation that's extremely unlikely to pass the current Congress. Multiple outlets reported Tuesday that Biden was preparing to announce his support for changes to the Supreme Court, including bills to establish term limits and an enforceable ethics code, in the coming weeks. (No, the current code is not enforceable and Justices get to decide themselves if they will recuse.) He's reportedly considering whether to call for a constitutional amendment to eliminate criminal immunity for presidents after the court ruled on July 1 that former President Donald Trump can't be prosecuted for his involvement in the January 6 attack. Unfortunately, Biden's plans do not seem to include expanding the size of the court. This news comes as Biden faces growing calls to drop out of the race following his debate performance, though Biden says it's been in the works for months. The New York Times reports that Biden said during a Saturday video call with the Congressional Progressive Caucus that he'd been "been working with constitutional scholars for the last three months" on a "a major initiative on limiting the court." (NPR noted that Biden was slated to give a speech on the court on Monday timed to the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, but the event was postponed after the shooting at a Trump rally.) Trump reacted to reports of the proposal by saying on Truth Social that Democrats want to destroy "our Honorable Supreme Court," which, lol. Legislation to limit the court's power would need 60 votes in the Senate thanks to the arcane filibuster. There are only 51 members of the Democratic caucus and at least two Senators—Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema—oppose changing the filibuster rules. This intransigence has prevented the party from passing legislation to codify the protections of Roe v. Wade, and it would be the same story here. Constitutional amendments have a higher threshold: A two-thirds vote in both chambers, then ratification by three-fourths of all state legislatures. So any proposal from the White House would effectively serve as a campaign message rather than something it could achieve before the election, or even in a second term depending on control of Congress. Biden—former chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which holds confirmation hearings for judges—has long resisted changes to the court. During the 2020 campaign, Biden promised to study potential changes to the court, and in April 2021, Biden convened a commission to review "the Court’s role in the Constitutional system; the length of service and turnover of justices on the Court; the membership and size of the Court; and the Court’s case selection, rules, and practices.” The commission filed its report in December 2021 which did not make any recommendations, and Biden did nothing with it. Last year, Biden even told MSNBC that adding seats to the court would "politicize it maybe forever in a way that is not healthy." Too late for that, Jack. The proposal should absolutely include court expansion. Five members of the Supreme Court were appointed by presidents who lost the popular vote and the court overturned pivotal, decades-old rulings in its last three terms: overruling the federal right to abortion (2022), ending affirmative action in college admissions (2023), and dramatically weakening federal agencies (2024). Crucially, it's the current 6-3 court that would decide if policies like term limits are even constitutional. Some very smart people argue that the first step in reforming the court is adding seats, and then making other changes.…
