Biden argues (unofficially of course) that he decided to ‘reform’ SCOTUS in part because Justices foiled his plan to imprison Trump before the Nov. 5 election.
The Gateway Pundit reported earlier this month that Joe Biden was planning to support sweeping changes to the Supreme Court and target President Trump’s immunity. Now, he has made this scheme official.
In an op-ed published this morning in the Washington Post, Biden argues he decided to make this call for “reform” after the Supreme Court in part because they foiled his plan to jail Trump before the 2024 election.
Biden writes:
This nation was founded on a simple yet profound principle: No one is above the law. Not the president of the United States. Not a justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. No one.
But the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision on July 1 to grant presidents broad immunity from prosecution for crimes they commit in office means there are virtually no limits on what a president can do. The only limits will be those that are self-imposed by the person occupying the Oval Office.
If a future president incites a violent mob to storm the Capitol and stop the peaceful transfer of power — like we saw on Jan. 6, 2021 — there may be no legal consequences.
And that’s only the beginning.
Biden proceeds to rail against the so-called “scandals” and “conflicts of interests” involving various Supreme Court Justices who have been involved while whining about the “extreme” decisions that overturned years of ” precedent.”
Of course, he also could not resist throwing in a January 6 reference.
On top of dangerous and extreme decisions that overturn settled legal precedents — including Roe v. Wade — the court is mired in a crisis of ethics. Scandals involving several justices have caused the public to question the court’s fairness and independence, which are essential to faithfully carrying out its mission of equal justice under the law. For example, undisclosed gifts to justices from individuals with interests in cases before the court, as well as conflicts of interest connected with Jan. 6 insurrectionists, raise legitimate questions about the court’s impartiality.
What is happening now is not normal, and it undermines the public’s confidence in the court’s decisions, including those impacting personal freedoms. We now stand in a breach.
Biden then details his three-step process for restoring “trust and accountability” in the judiciary branch, starting with a constitutional amendment to overturn Trump’s immunity decision, which he ironically deemed the No One Is Above the Law Amendment. None of these proposals should surprise The Gateway Pundit readers because they mirror what he previously suggested.
That’s why — in the face of increasing threats to America’s democratic institutions — I am calling for three bold reforms to restore trust and accountability to the court and our democracy.
First, I am calling for a constitutional amendment called the No One Is Above the Law Amendment. It would make clear that there is no immunity for crimes a former president committed 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.
Old Joe then turns his focus to demanding term limits for Supreme Court Justices. He writes that he wants a system in which the President gets the right to appoint a Justice every two years regardless of whether there is a current vacancy and limits Justices to only 18 years on the Court.
Second, we have had term limits for presidents for nearly 75 years. We should have the same for Supreme Court justices. The United States is the only major constitutional democracy that gives lifetime seats to its high court.
Term limits would help ensure that the court’s membership changes with some regularity. That would make timing for court nominations more predictable and less arbitrary. It would reduce the chance that any single presidency radically alters the makeup of the court for generations to come. I support a system in which the president would appoint a justice every two years to spend 18 years in active service on the Supreme Court.
The final part of his three-step scheme involves a binding code of ethics for Supreme Court Justices, which is seemingly targeted toward Justice Clarence Thomas. As TGP readers know, the left has used corporate media reports of alleged gifts Thomas has received to smear him as “corrupt.”
Third, I’m calling for a binding code of conduct for the Supreme Court. This is common sense. The court’s current voluntary ethics code is weak and self-enforced.
Justices should be required 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. Every other federal judge is bound by an enforceable code of conduct, and there is no reason for the Supreme Court to be exempt.