Joe Biden may have removed his name from the 2024 presidential campaign, but he is determined to leave Donald Trump something to remember him with.
Biden is calling for sweeping reforms in the Supreme Court to ensure that no president is above the law. To preserve his legacy, he sees it as imperative to shackle Trump, whom he sees as a threat to democracy.
The president wants to transform the Supreme Court to make it less rigid and more answerable—and while any lasting changes are unlikely to pass through Congress in the 99 days before Election Day, he appears intent on sending a message.
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Biden’s dramatic move comes after America’s highest court decided on July 1 to grant a president immunity from actions falling within their “core” roles as the nation’s commander in chief.
Trump’s opponents fear the decision has effectively given Trump, who still faces charges relating to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and other cases, a get-out-of-jail-free card.
“This nation was founded on a simple yet profound principle: No one is above the law,” Biden writes in Monday’s Washington Post. “Not the president of the United States. Not a justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. No one.”
Biden, who says he has overseen more Supreme Court nominations than any other living politician, is calling for three “bold” reforms “to restore trust and accountability to the court and our democracy.”
The first is a “No One Is Above the Law Amendment” that will make clear there is no immunity for crimes a former president may have committed while in the Oval Office.
Second, Biden is calling for an 18-year term limit for Supreme Court justices, ending the current lifetime terms, with the president selecting a justice every two years.
And third, in an apparent reference to reports of justices, including Justice Clarence Thomas, accepting trips from political donors, the president wants a code of ethics to be enforced for Supreme Court justices.
“Every other federal judge is bound by an enforceable code of conduct and there is no reason for the Supreme Court to be exempt,” the president added.
