WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono said Monday that she supports President Joe Biden’s proposals to do away with presidential immunity for offenses committed while in office, set term limits for Supreme Court justices and establish a binding code of ethics for the Supreme Court.
“Unbound by norms, the Supreme Court has shown itself all too willing to throw out longstanding precedent, putting its ideological agenda above our constitution,” Hirono said in a statement. “The result is a Court deeply out of step with the American people and our values. Despite growing public distrust in the Court and its independence, Justices have refused to take even the most basic steps to affirm their impartiality.”
Hirono, who has worked with Senate colleagues to advance Supreme Court reform, including a code of ethics for justices, said she was glad to see the president “join in this effort.”
“The rule of law is what separates democracy from other forms of government,” she said. “The proposals endorsed by the President today will strengthen the rule of law, and Americans’ faith in our democracy. I look forward to working with the President and my colleagues in Congress to pass this vitally important package into law.”
In announcing Biden’s proposals on Monday, the White House blamed the recent actions of the conservative-led court for their necessity.
“In recent years, the Supreme Court has overturned long-established legal precedents protecting fundamental rights,” a fact sheet released by the White House stated. “This Court has gutted civil rights protections, taken away a woman’s right to choose, and now granted Presidents broad immunity from prosecution for crimes they commit in office. At the same time, recent ethics scandals involving some Justices have caused the public to question the fairness and independence that are essential for the Court to faithfully carry out its mission to deliver justice for all Americans.”
Citing the founding fathers’ belief that presidential power is limited and not absolute, Biden proposed a constitutional amendment that clarifies that no president is immune from prosecution for crimes committed while in office. The so-called No One Is Above the Law Amendment would specify that the Constitution does not confer immunity from federal criminal indictment, trial, conviction or sentencing by virtue of previously serving as president.
Regarding term limits, Biden noted that the United States is the only major constitutional democracy that gives lifetime seats to its high-court justices. Biden recommended a system in which the president would appoint a justice every two years to serve 18 years on the Supreme Court.
“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,” the White House release stated.
Biden’s third proposal calls on Congress to pass binding, enforceable conduct and ethics rules that would require justices to disclose gifts, refrain from public political activity and recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have financial or other conflicts of interest.
While the proposals have been embraced by Democrats, including Vice President Kamala Harris, the likely Democratic nominee to face former President Donald Trump in November, Republicans have criticized them as reckless and a threat to democracy.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson told the Associated Press that the proposal is a “dangerous gambit” that would be “dead on arrival in the House.”
The president’s proposal takes up earlier legislative efforts at Supreme Court reform.
Just last week, Hirono proposed her own constitutional amendment that would specify that “the President, Vice President, and all civil Officers of the United States are accountable to the law for their actions, both official and unofficial,” and that “such officer is liable to prosecution and punishment in the ordinary course of law, specifically including the president once no longer in office. Laws of general applicability shall be applicable to the President unless otherwise specified.”
She also previously introduced legislation to establish 18-year term limits and regularized Supreme Court appointments and cosponsored another measure that called for the adoption of an enforceable code of ethics for the court.
Michael Tsai covers local and state politics for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at michael.tsai@charter.com.