President Joe Biden is preparing to back changes to the Supreme Court that he hopes will energize the left-wing base of the Democratic Party as his reelection campaign continues to sink.
The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Biden will soon back term limits for Supreme Court justices and a new “ethics code” to be enforced against the judiciary.
He will stop short, however, of calling to expand the Court.
That could be a matter of politics more than one of principle.
Democrats once hoped to use their temporary majority in both houses of Congress in 2021 and 2022 to expand and “pack” the Court with enough liberal justices to outweigh the Court’s six Republican-nominated members.
The likely prospect of losing the Senate — given the sheer number of Democrat-held seats at stake in November — makes the idea of expanding the Court less enticing, since Republicans could block left-wing nominees.
The Post reported:
President Biden is finalizing plans to endorse major changes to the Supreme Court in the coming weeks, including proposals for legislation to establish term limits for the justices and an enforceable ethics code, according to two people briefed on the plans.
He is also weighing whether to call for a constitutional amendment to eliminate broad immunity for presidents and other constitutional officeholders, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.
The announcement would mark a major shift for Biden, a former chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who has long resisted calls to reform the high court.
After the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh in 2018, which tipped the Court towards a 5-4 Republican-appointed majority, left-wing Democrats began to talk about packing the Court.
The idea picked up steam during the 2020 campaign, especially after the passing of liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the appointment of Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Biden refused to say where he stood, promising only to appoint a commission to study the issue.
When the commission issued its report in December 2021, it said that the benefits of expanding the Court were “uncertain.” It considered term limits and an ethics code for Supreme Court justices, among other proposals.
President Biden did not take steps to implement the proposed reforms. As the Post notes, many of them would have required legislation, which would have required at least some Republican assent to overcome the Senate filibuster.
Rep. Michael Rulli (R-OH), who serves on the House Judiciary Committee, told Breitbart News during an interview at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that Democrats are simply trying to change the rules because recent Court decisions haven’t gone their way.
Biden’s proposals, he said, reinforced the idea that the 2024 presidential election really will be “the most important of our lifetime” because Biden had put the Court at stake.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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