Joe Biden is rolling out a series of proposals to radically change the United States Supreme Court and the presidency in the wake of the Democratic Party’s failed lawfare campaign against former President Donald J. Trump. In an opinion editorial for The Washington Post, the 81-year-old Biden lays out three major changes he intends to pursue: a constitutional amendment to end presidential immunity, term limits for Supreme Court justices, and a binding code of conduct for the high court.
PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY.
The Biden-Harris plan calls for a radical rollback of presidential immunity through what he bills as a ‘No One Is Above the Law’ amendment to the U.S. Constitution. “It would make clear that there is no immunity for crimes a former president committed while in office,” he writes.
Biden, Kamala Harris, and their Democratic allies falsely frame the issue as one of simple criminal activity, ignoring the complexity of a president’s decisions and the chilling effect that the threat of post-White House prosecution could have on the nation’s leaders. Such an amendment may create an environment where presidents face prosecution for acts that most might consider being in defense of the United States—including constitutionally grey military actions.
TERM LIMITS & COURT PACKING.
The next proposal pushed by the Democrat—who announced earlier this month that he would not seek reelection—is term limits on the tenure of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court. Under the Biden-Harris plan, every president would appoint one justice every two years who would serve 18-year terms on the bench. Democrats have made it a priority to either ‘pack’ the court with far-left, radical justices or dilute the court’s current conservative majority.
Democrats have called for impeaching several justices after this past court term, which saw several rulings that rolled back the administrative state and the curtailing of the Biden-Harris government’s lawfare campaign against Trump.
NEW LAWFARE LEVERAGE.
Finally, the 81-year-old Biden is calling for a binding code of conduct for Supreme Court justices. The Democrats have long sought a legal method to remove conservative and constitutionalist justices almost as soon as they’re appointed. Earlier this year, Democrats attempted to target Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito over frivolous ethics complaints to force their recusal from critical cases, including the presidential immunity case.
ITS ALL UNCONSTITUIONAL.
Ultimately, the radical Biden-Harris court plan will face heavy pushback in Congress. Even if the Democrats can gain some political traction in the legislative branch, the proposal is largely unconstitutional on its face. The U.S. Constitution grants Supreme Court justices lifetime appointments and would require either two-thirds of Congress or three-fourths of the states to change. As far as a binding code of ethics, this too would likely require constitutional action, as the imposition of such a code by the legislature and executive could be challenged as a breach of the separation of powers.
