Biden: 'Outrageous' Decisions Call for Supreme Court Changes

In an address in Texas, President Biden said Monday that extremism on the Supreme Court is undermining public confidence in the institution and called on Congress to quickly establish term limits and an enforceable ethics code for the court's nine justices. He also called on lawmakers to ratify a constitutional amendment limiting presidential immunity, the AP reports. Biden detailed the contours of his court proposals, unveiled in an opinion piece in the Washington Post, at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, where he was marking the 60th anniversary of the passage of the Civil Rights Act. "We can and must prevent abuse of presidential power and restore faith in the Supreme Court," Biden said.

Biden's proposals have little chance of being approved by a closely divided Congress with 99 days to go before Election Day. Still, Democrats hope they'll help focus voters as they consider their choices in the presidential election. The White House is looking to tap into the growing outrage among Democrats about the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, issuing opinions that overturned landmark decisions on abortion rights and federal regulatory powers that had stood for decades. Some also argue that questionable relationships and decisions by some members of the conservative wing of the court suggest their impartiality is compromised.

Biden pointed to the 2013 high court decision that gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965—when Lyndon Johnson was in office—the 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade and rolling back abortion rights, and a 2023 decision "eviscerating" affirmative action in college admission programs as examples of "outrageous" decisions. He criticized the court's recent ruling that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution. "This nation was founded on the principle there are no kings in America," Biden said, adding that no one is above the law. "For all practical purposes, the court's decision almost certainly means that the president can violate the oath, flout our laws and face no consequences," he said, per the New York Times. "Folks, just imagine what a president could do trampling civil rights and liberties, given such immunity." (More President Biden stories.)