Harris Co-Proposed Radical Biden Plan To Shake Up Supreme Court

Republicans have strongly criticized President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s long-term plan to reform the Supreme Court, viewing it as an attempt to politicize the judiciary.

“President Biden and I are calling on Congress to pass important reforms – from imposing term limits for Justices’ active service to requiring Justices to comply with binding ethics rules just like every other federal judge. These popular reforms will help to restore confidence in the Court, strengthen our democracy, and ensure no one is above the law,” Harris said in a statement.

The proposed reforms include an 18-year term limit for justices and requirements that they disclose gifts, avoid political activities, and recuse themselves in cases of conflicts of interest. Additionally, the proposal suggests a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that presidents have presumed immunity for core functions of their office.

Harris, who contributed to developing the plan, has not hosted any public events to promote it.

“I’ve made clear how I feel about Kamala, and she’s been an incredible partner to me and a champion of surprise throughout her career,” Biden remarked in his speech.

“And she’ll continue to be an inspiring leader and project the very idea of America — the very idea that we’re all created equal and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives.”

The Supreme Court currently has a 6-3 conservative majority, and the White House is attempting to harness the growing frustration among Democrats over recent court decisions that have overturned long-standing precedents on federal regulatory authority and abortion rights.

Liberals have also voiced concern over the conduct and relationships of certain members of the court’s conservative wing, suggesting these issues raise questions about their impartiality.

Harris later emphasized in a statement that the American people need to trust a Supreme Court free from ethics scandals and decisions that disregard established precedent.

She reiterated that the proposed reforms “will help to restore confidence in the Court, strengthen our democracy, and ensure no one is above the law.”

Biden advocates for ending lifetime appointments to the judiciary.

He proposes that Congress pass legislation to implement a system where the sitting president appoints a justice every two years to serve an 18-year term on the court.

Biden argues that term limits would bring stability to the nomination process and ensure that the composition of the court changes regularly.

Kamala Harris, a former senator and the Democratic candidate for president in 2024, did not rule out the possibility of expanding the Supreme Court when she was seeking her party’s nomination in 2020.

During her previous campaign, Harris, who is now vice president, expressed openness to the idea of expanding the Supreme Court, which could allow more liberal justices to be appointed and shift the court’s majority.

“I’m open to this conversation about increasing the number of people on the United States Supreme Court,” Harris said to voters in Nashua, New Hampshire, when asked about the possibility of adding up to four seats to the high court, according to a Bloomberg report at the time.