President Joe Biden had some strong words for a US lawmaker who called his proposal to drastically reform the Supreme Court ‘dead on arrival’.
Biden was asked by a reporter to comment on Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson’s remarks on his plan that includes establishing term limits on country’s highest court.
‘Speaker Johnson said it’s dead on arrival,’ a reporter could be heard shouting to Biden on a tarmac in Austin, Texas, on Monday afternoon.
Biden replied, ‘I think that’s what he is.’
As the reporter sought clarification, Biden again used Johnson’s own words against him.
‘He is – dead on arrival,’ the president said.
Johnson reacted by sharing a video on X (formerly Twitter) of Biden’s remark along with a clip of Biden’s disastrous debate in June, which ultimately led to him end his reelection campaign.
In the clip, ex-president and Republican nominee Donald Trump says of Biden: ‘I really don’t know what he said at the end of that sentence. I don’t think he knows what he said, either.’
Earlier, a spokesman for Johnson, Taylor Haulsee, slammed Biden’s comment as ‘incoherent and pathetic’ on X.
The Biden administration on Monday unveiled the proposal which seeks to eliminate lifetime Supreme Court appointments and instead allow a sitting president to appoint a justice every two years for 18-years on the bench. Biden has vouched for term limits to enable changes in the court’s composition.
Currently, the Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority.
Biden’s proposal also calls on Congress to pass legislation implementing a code of ethics binding justices to refrain from political activity in public and to disclose gifts they receive, among other matters.
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Johnson in addition to calling it ‘dead on arrival in the House’, labeled it a ‘dangerous gambit’.
Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Biden endorsed for the Democratic nomination after stepping aside, stated that the proposed reforms are necessary because ‘there is a clear crisis of confidence facing the Supreme Court’.
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