Gorsuch Has 2-Word Warning For Biden-Harris Over Radical SCOTUS ‘Reforms’
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch issued a succinct caution to President Joe Biden after he proposed several reforms for the nation’s highest court, which include what some see as unconstitutional term limits.
During an appearance on Fox News Sunday, anchor Shannon Bream discussed Biden’s reform and inquired about the Court’s stance on potential term limits.
Justice Gorsuch responded that he would not delve into "what is now a political issue during a presidential election year," but he did add these two words: "Be careful."
“I have one thought to add. The independent judiciary…what does it mean to you as an American? It means when you are unpopular, you can get a fair hearing under the law and under the Constitution,” Gorsuch stated.
He continued, “If you’re in the majority, you don’t need judges and juries to hear you and protect your rights, you’re popular. It’s there for the moments when the spotlight’s on you. When the government’s coming after you. And don’t you want a ferociously independent judge and a jury of your peers to make those decisions? Isn’t that your right as an American? And so I just say be careful,” he reiterated, according to Newsweek.
At the end of the previous month, Biden revealed a new three-part strategy to reform the Supreme Court. His plan includes setting term limits for justices, introducing a constitutional amendment to overturn the Court’s decision on presidential immunity, and implementing an enforceable ethics code for the justices. Currently, Supreme Court justices, like all federal judges, have lifetime appointments.
“The United States is the only major constitutional democracy that gives lifetime seats to its high court Justices,” a White House fact sheet indicates. “Term limits would help ensure that the Court’s membership changes with some regularity; make timing for Court nominations more predictable and less arbitrary; and reduce the chance that any single Presidency imposes undue influence for generations to come.”
Opponents of Biden’s plan argue that he and other left-wing Democrats aim to alter the court’s current 6-3 constitutionalist majority because the justices have made several decisions in recent years that the party opposes. These decisions include maintaining the originalist interpretation of the Second Amendment, returning the issue of abortion to the states, and recently overturning the “Chevron Doctrine,” which allowed courts to defer to federal agencies’ interpretations of their own authority.
In another segment of the interview, Gorsuch told Bream that the collective power of the numerous federal agencies—whose rules and regulations carry the weight of law—has effectively created a fourth branch of government, a topic he explores in his recent book.
“It’s not just the laws passed but also the regulatory stuff that has given rise to what critics would call a ‘fourth branch of government.’ In the book, you say, ‘Many criminal laws are not the direct product of the elected representatives accountable to us; they’re the handiwork of agency officials… These days, federal agencies don’t just write and enforce legally binding rules. Often, they act as prosecutor and judge too,'” Bream remarked.
Gorsuch provided a significant example.
“The IRS has a hotline if you have questions — you don’t want to become a federal felon — call them. And it turned out, for a period of time, they were giving wrong answers about a third of the time. And then, when asked why there were so many wrong answers, they said, ‘Well, the IRS tax code had just become so complex; there are just so many new laws.’ There has been an explosion in our laws, and it’s new and it is different it is in our lifetimes,” he explained.