President Joe Biden is planning to announce major reforms to the Supreme Court in upcoming weeks, according to multiple reports.
The president plans to propose legislation that would enforce term limits on justices and a code of ethics for justices, The Washington Post reported, citing two anonymous sources familiar with the matter.
Biden announced the changes during a Zoom call on Saturday, July 13 with members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
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“I don’t want to prematurely announce it—but I’m about to come out with a major initiative on limiting the court,” Biden said, according to a transcript of the call viewed by the Post.
The president said he was working with “constitutional scholars” for the last three months on possible changes to the high court—meaning Biden’s office was working on these changes before the Supreme Court’s controversial decision to find former President Donald Trump immune from criminal prosecution for “official acts” taken while holding the office.
Biden strongly condemned the court’s decision on July 1, but declined to take questions from reporters at a press conference the same day.
It is unclear exactly when Biden plans to announce this legislation to the public. The White House did not return a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
Biden could be looking for momentum going into the Democratic National Convention in August, as members of his own party continue to pressure him to drop out of the race after a lackluster debate performance with Trump—who was officially named the Republican nominee on Monday.
Biden’s push for term limits and an enforceable code of ethics for justices echoes criticism from Democrats after Justice Clarence Thomas failed to disclose lavish vacations to Bali and stays at a manor owned by billionaire and conservative donor Harlan Crow in 2019, which were first reported by ProPublica in 2023.
Thomas finally acknowledged the trips in June, but claimed they were “inadvertently omitted” from his previous disclosure reports.
Earlier in June, Justice Samuel Alito also came under fire for allegedly flying the “Appeal to Heaven” flag and an upside-down American flag at his homes in New Jersey and Virginia—both symbols used in recent years by far-right movements.
