President Joe Biden, speaking at LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas, on Monday, laid out his proposal to rein in the U.S. Supreme Court, from term limits to the establishment of an enforceable code of ethics.
He also called on lawmakers to ratify a constitutional amendment limiting presidential immunity.
Biden said “extremism” on the court is undermining public confidence in the institution.
His plan has little chance of being approved by a divided Congress, and House Speaker Mike Johnson called it “dead on arrival.”
Still, Democrats hope it’ll help focus voters as they consider their choices in a tight election. The likely Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, who has sought to frame her race against Republican ex-President Donald Trump as “a choice between freedom and chaos,” quickly endorsed the Biden proposal.
Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who is fighting to keep his seat from Democratic Rep. Colin Allred, appeared on Fox Business and said Biden and Harris are trying to burn the high court to the ground.
“Look, it’s terrible. This administration is the most radical administration we’ve ever seen. Joe Biden, Kamala Harris — they’ve decided they’re willing to try to destroy the Supreme Court, to undermine its legitimacy, to undermine the rule of law,” Cruz said.
Why? [Because] it’s the one branch of government they don’t control right now and they’re angry that [there are] justices willing to defend the Constitution, defend the Bill of Rights, defend free speech and religious liberty and the Second Amendment,” Cruz continued.
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 stood for decades.
“So they’re willing to burn it to the ground. This is an assault on the protections of all of our constitutional rights. And the irony is, this is from the people that bang their chests and say they’re all about democracy. These are actions that indicate a contempt for democracy,” Cruz said.
Biden pointed to the 2013 high court decision that gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade and rolling back abortion rights, and a 2023 decision “eviscerating” affirmative action in college admission programs as three prime examples of what he saw as “outrageous” decisions that have shaken Americans’ faith in the high court.
Harris, in a statement, said the reforms being proposed are needed because “there is a clear crisis of confidence facing the Supreme Court.”