President Joe Biden called for major reforms to the Supreme Court, including a constitutional amendment that bars presidential immunity.
The President said the nation’s highest court is in a “crisis of ethics” in an op-ed published in the Washington Post on Monday. Along with the immunity amendment, Biden is also calling for term limits for Justices and an enforceable code of conduct.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]The move is an evolution for Biden, who had previously spoken out against other forms of reform such as expanding the number of Justices on the court. And it’s highly unlikely that any of these proposed measures will come to pass; House Speaker Mike Johnson has already said in a statement on X that Biden’s proposal would “delegitimize the Supreme Court” and is “dead on arrival in the House.”
Still, it’s significant that Biden backed the measures. “When the President speaks on something like this, we take it seriously,” says Michael Gerhardt, constitutional law professor at the University of North Carolina’s School of Law. It “doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll prevail, but when you put the presidential seal of approval on it, that tends to increase its importance.”
Read More: Breaking Down the Supreme Court’s Ethics Rules as Justices Come Under Fire
Biden, who recently announced he will not run for reelection this year, is set to speak about the reforms in a speech Monday afternoon as works to cement his legacy while Vice President Kamala Harris runs in his stead. Harris backed Biden’s proposals in a statement Monday. “These popular reforms will help restore confidence in the Court, strengthen our democracy, and ensure no one is above the law,” Harris said.
Biden’s op-ed references numerous Supreme Court scandals in recent months related to undisclosed gifts and certain Justices’ failure to recuse themselves from cases where there is an apparent conflict of interest. Biden also highlighted controversial opinions, including the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 and a 2024 case that granted Presidents significant immunity from prosecution for official acts conducted in office.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat from New York, introduced articles of impeachment against Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito in mid-July, though that measure never advanced. Legislators have also previously introduced legislation to regulate Justices actions and disclosures.
Read More: How Impeaching a Supreme Court Justice Works
Here are the Supreme Court reforms that Biden supports.
Biden’s proposed constitutional amendment, which he calls “No One is Above the Law,” would specify that presidents do not have immunity from any federal criminal indictment, trial, conviction, or sentencing for crimes they commit while in office.
“I share our Founders’ belief that the president’s power is limited, not absolute. We are a nation of laws — not of kings or dictators,” Biden wrote.
In a major decision in June, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 along ideological lines that Presidents and former Presidents are largely immune from prosecution for official acts they conduct while in office, but not actions they took that aren’t part of their core job responsibilities. The case arose from a criminal case brought by the Justice Department against Donald Trump for his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election in the final weeks of his presidency.
Passing a new constitutional amendment requires clearing a very high bar; even to propose one requires a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress or a request by two thirds of the states. The last amendment was ratified more than 30 years ago, in 1992.
The President also called for Congress to enact term limits for Justices, who are permitted to serve on the court for their lifetime. Biden is specifically supporting a system that would allow Presidents to appoint a Justice every two years, and allow each Justice to serve for 18 years on the Supreme Court.
Justices currently serve an average of 16 years, though the longest-serving Justice served more than 30 years, according to the Supreme Court. In recent years, both Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg died while on the bench, which contributed to fraught and political confirmation processes to replace them.
Term limits, the White House said in a press release, would make nominations for the Court “more predictable and less arbitrary,” while also preventing a singular President from having “undue influence” over the court.
Federal judges outside of the Supreme Court have abided by enforceable code of conduct rules since 1973. The Supreme Court adopted their first-ever code of conduct last November, though those guidelines were voluntary and unenforceable.
Biden is now calling on Congress to pass binding ethics rules that would mandate Justices to disclose gifts, avoid political activity, and recuse themselves from cases where they or their spouses have conflicts of interests.
Legal scholars have previously questioned the power Congress has to impose ethics rules and disciplinary actions on the Supreme Court. Legislators have sought to better regulate the actions of the Justices through the Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency (SCERT) Act, which was introduced in February 2023. The bill has not passed.
There is a law that applies to Supreme Court Justices and other judges outlining when they must recuse themselves from cases. But “the problem with that current law is the enforcement mechanism for it is the Court decides for itself whether or not anybody should step aside,” Gerhardt says. And if Congress tries to go further, “it would be those provisions that could possibly be found [to go] beyond the Constitution.”
