What Supreme Court changes is Joe Biden looking to make?

President Biden has announced he will not seek reelection. Still, according to a Biden op-ed published in The Washington Post, he has a few things left to do before he leaves The White House: A series of sweeping Supreme Court reforms “to restore trust and accountability to the court and our democracy,” Biden wrote.

Biden’s July 29, 2024, op-ed came after several controversial Supreme Court decisions, such as granting U.S. presidents full and limited legal immunity for presidential decisions in the Oval Office, and overturning abortion protections in Roe v. Wade. Furthermore, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito were embroiled in scandals, including accusations Thomas received gifts creating conflicts of interest, and reports flags were flown at Alito’s home suggesting his sympathies for Jan. 6 insurrectionists.

What Supreme Court changes did Biden propose?

In his Wa-Po op-ed, Biden laid out a three-point plan to counteract recent Supreme Court decisions, institute justice term limits, and called for a binding Supreme Court code of conduct, similar to the ethics code already in place for all Federal judges, to which Supreme Court justices are exempt. “The court’s current voluntary ethics code is weak and self-enforced,” Biden wrote, and justices should be required 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,” Biden added.

The constitutional amendment Biden calls the “No One Is Above the Law Amendment” targets the Supreme Court’s recent immunity decision, mandating that no presidential immunity would be recognized for actions taken in the White House, whether they’re part of presidential responsibilities or otherwise. As president, Biden only calls for the amendment from the so-called “bully pulpit,” with no official power to change the constitution.

Finally, Biden calls for 18-year Supreme Court term limits where there currently are none to, as he put it, “reduce the chance that any single presidency radically alters the makeup of the court for generations to come.”

Kamala Harris supports Biden’s proposals

Vice President and presumptive Democratic nominee in the 2024 election Kamala Harris came out in support of Biden’s proposals, all of which would require congressional action and not just a decree from the president. Polls show American voters largely support a stricter Supreme Court ethics code and term limits, the AP reported. Biden would speak in Austin, Texas on his plan the same day the op-ed was published.

A few weeks before Biden’s column was published, New York congresswoman Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced articles of impeachment against Justice Thomas and Alito. “Justice Thomas and Alito’s repeated failure over decades to disclose that they received millions of dollars in gifts from individuals with business before the court is explicitly against the law. And their refusal to recuse from the specific matters and cases before the court in which their benefactors and spouses are implicated represents nothing less than a constitutional crisis,” the congresswoman wrote.

Before Biden’s op-ed was published, former President Trump posted on Truth Social, “The Democrats are attempting to interfere in the Presidential Election, and destroy our Justice System, by attacking their Political Opponent, ME, and our Honorable Supreme Court. We have to fight for our Fair and Independent Courts, and protect our Country [sic].”