If Democrats win big in November, you should probably expect them to seek to pack the Supreme Court with their partisans.
President Joe Biden endorsed a Supreme Court “reform” plan in an op-ed column for The Washington Post on Monday. The plan was also endorsed by the acting president—er, I mean Vice President Kamala Harris.
In the plan, Biden—the byline says he wrote it, so let’s pretend that’s true for a moment—listed a series of radical proposals cloaked in language to give them the appearance of being reasonable.
“I have great respect for our institutions and the separation of powers,” Biden wrote in a line that seemed kind of familiar, before laying out his case for their destruction.
The president’s first proposal was to call for an amendment to “make clear that there is no immunity for crimes a former president committed while in office.”
This is a shot at a recent Supreme Court decision holding that presidents can’t be prosecuted for official decisions they make as president. As my colleague Tony Kinnett wrote, Biden and his Democratic allies have largely demagogued on the content of that ruling to make it seem like the Supreme Court gave presidents the all-clear to do anything they want.
That just isn’t so.
Here’s what Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in his majority opinion:
The President enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything the President does is official. The President is not above the law. But Congress may not criminalize the President’s conduct in carrying out the responsibilities of the Executive Branch under the Constitution. And the system of separated powers designed by the Framers has always demanded an energetic, independent Executive.
That’s not a call for the president to be given absolute power. It’s laying out the case that the Constitution was designed to prevent the United States from becoming a banana republic, where losing power means being sent to prison—or worse.
Biden’s second—and perhaps more significant—proposal is to create 18-year term limits for Supreme Court justices. He paired that with allowing presidents to appoint justices every two years.
As Dan McLaughlin at National Review pointed out, removing the lifetime terms for Supreme Court justices would require a constitutional amendment. It’s also essentially a court-packing plan
Biden doesn’t say whether those term limits would apply to current Supreme Court justices or not. If it did, that means the court would swing from a 6-3 conservative majority to a 5-4 liberal majority. How convenient.
Way back in 1983, then-Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., called President Franklin Roosevelt’s court-packing plan in the 1930s a “bonehead idea.”
It’s interesting that one of Biden’s last official policy proposals is to go full bonehead.
Packing the Supreme Court is such a terrible idea that past Supreme Court justices appointed by Democratic presidents—Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg—have denounced it.
Biden’s final proposal is to foist a new “code of conduct” on the Supreme Court to supersede their current, internally enforced ethics rules. It’s a clear violation of the separation of powers and based on the completely fabricated narrative that the Supreme Court is mired in ethics scandals.
Here’s what Federalist Society Chairman Leonard Leo had to say about the ethics proposal.
Frankly, it’s painfully obvious what Biden’s Supreme Court “reforms” are all about.
The Supreme Court is one of the vanishingly few institutions in American life that the Left doesn’t control. For a long time, Democrats could count on the nation’s highest court to either affirm their policies or—certainly in the case of the “Warren Court”—outright foist them on the American people.
When the court shifted to the right, the Left immediately insisted that it was no longer legitimate.
It’s a fairly ironclad rule in American politics that any institution the Left doesn’t control it will ultimately seek to destroy. So it goes with the modern Supreme Court.
Biden—or whoever is speaking and writing for him these days—is hardly concerned with the ethics of Supreme Court justices. Recent “scandals” were all just cooked up by his elite media allies who gaslit the American people about the president’s health much of the past four years.
What the administration cares about is that, for now and in the future, the Supreme Court represents a potential roadblock to their absolute power over American government.
The easiest way to change that dynamic is to force more justices onto the court who agree with them and force out the ones who disagree. It’s that simple.
And if the Supreme Court collapses in efficacy and trust with the American people as a result? Well, then, the Left gets its way anyway. More power will likely fall on unaccountable executive and legislative agencies that have reliably pushed their preferred agendas for generations.
Institutionally, for the Left, that’s a win-win situation.
The only snag is whether this agenda flies with the American people. Are the American people keen on allowing Democrats to just stomp the Supreme Court flat so they can rule by unimpeded fiat?
I hate to say it, but many Americans probably would, and Democrats are apparently counting on that. Just read some of the comments online to Biden’s Washington Post column. Scary stuff.
But these people are still almost certainly in the minority. Through the years, polls have consistently shown that Americans strongly oppose court-packing or restructuring the Supreme Court.
The proposal is unlikely to go anywhere under the lamest of lame-duck presidential circumstances. However, it does signal that the Left openly wants one-party rule under the guise of “democracy.”
Demolishing the Supreme Court with Biden’s plan would bring them another step closer to that reality.
Reprinted with permission from The Daily Signal by Jarrett Stepman.
Yes, if the Demos win this November, one can expect the possibility of packing the Supreme Court. Also, expect their term limits language to be withdrawn so they would be able to advance and support their evil agenda forever. So much for a republic, hello socialism.
If Joe Biden wants term limit, then the people of THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA want term limits on the House of representatives and senate some these long term Democratic’s can be voted out of office.
It’s painfully obvious that Joe is an imbecile. He can’t be tried on the illegal documents he stole because it was said that he is too old and senile. That means this bag of flesh is NOT capable of running our country! What part of get the F$%# out Joe don’t you understand?
No one is above the law except Obiden. He knows he will be prosecuted for the bribes he took from China, Ukraine and the mayor of Moscow and others we haven’t discovered yet. He doesn’t like to be told he can’t do certain things. He has politicized the FBI and CIA. DOJ is totally under his control. DHS and Mayorkas are putty in his hands. Only the Supreme Court he couldn’t mold to his hand and that is why they have to go and his cronies put in. Any judgement that has come down and he doesn’t like he ignores. Roe v Wade, the Dobbs decision, the scholarship decision, the border decision. On and on. Talk about being above the law. Don’t worry he won’t have time to get anything passed by Jan. worry more about Kameltoe winning she will set this forth. Because communists don’t have anybody above them to watch them. They and only they are the boss. And we, the people, were so compliant the past 4 years by allowing a demented person to rule us they think it will be a snap to win in November. Are we awake yet? Those of you that are still believing that Obiden and Kameltoe have your best interest at heart I am sorry for you. Where will you be in 6 month into a Kameltoe administration. If we still are around and World War III has not annihilated America. Think Middle East and sloppy Obiden at the helm. Two disasters to be overrun by the Chinese and Iran and Gamas supporters all over America including in the Congress.
The Judicial Branch is the third branch of our government per our founding fathers. It is a sham that political parties want to stack SCOTUS with liberal or conservative judges. My opinion, intent of SCOTUS should be neutral in rulings and that justices should make decisions to protect our constitution and our freedoms.
the only reasons why democrats are hell-bent on “reforming” the Supreme Court is because they don’t like the Court’s recent decisions. They want the court to be a rubber-stamp on their agenda, constitution be damned.
If the Democrats want “term limits” for the Supreme Court, then America NEEDS TERM LIMITS for ALL POLITICIANS in both State and Federal levels. 2 terms and then back to work in the private sector. I’ll bet that EVERY POLITICIAN would cry “foul” !!!
This could be a good idea. When Donald Trump wins in November, perhaps he should pursue this. If the Democratics like it NOW, then they should LOVE it when it comes from Donald Trump…
As the USA works its way to banana republic stage Joe and the ho do all they can to help.
This is pandering, He has ZERO chance to do anything to the Supreme Court,
Let’s get term limits for all state and federal politicians…and leave the Supreme Court alone!
I have witnessed, since a Democrat President initiated “The Great Society”, (54-years), that the Democrat Party has become a front for Marxism. The lesson learned is that everything the Democrat Party strives for is harmful to America. I am not engaging in hyperbole by making this all encompassing declaration. The unstated platform of the Democrat Party is to bring about a socialist Utopia akin to Perdition on Earth. The Democrats, of course, would be the ruling poliburo of the subjects of this socialist republic.
The Democrat Party used to be the party of the working man. It is now the political party from Perdition.
If the Communists – er, I mean the Democrats – are allowed to steal yet another election this November, this country is finished. We are currently living through what amounts to a slow Communist takeover from within, the culmination of more than a century of infiltration into all of the foundational institutions in our country. If they are not stopped in November, we will soon be just another version of Red China.
Biden’s “reforms” can can only be implemented after a constitutional amendment, which requires 2/3 of each chamber of Congress plus ratification of 38 states. Sooner will hell freeze over.
Trump is running against 2 dim candidates. Biden (when he is up to it) and Harris. But the dims are masters at creating an unequal playing field. Trump can handle both of them at the same time and the Dim commanders including Pelosi, Obama, and Schumer.
Where is Russia Collusion ? Where are those court cases ?
They will staff the Supreme court with suitable candidates with Obama as Grand pooh bah
So the guy who’s been a useless cog in Congress is calling for term limits! LOL
The dem party is like the robot Gort in ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’. It is capable of catastrophic damage if not contained. The best hope for this happening is a substantial Trump victory along with both houses of congress on his coattails.
Check Washington’s farewell address. In it he states his greatest concern for maintaining the republic is that one group would be more loyal to it’s party than it was to the republic. Look’s like his concern was truly valid. Here is a crazy idea: primaries should not be by party, rather they should be by name. Party support could be recognized. No winning by party, then having party winners run in the final election. This means all citizens could vote their choice from all the candidates. Now, we prevent that right to each citizen away. Also, a citizen elected to house or senate would serve A term and never ever serve in that position again. Same for President. Have an election every 3 years and alternate from house to senate to President. And once elected to a Federally elected position, they can no longer be associated with a party. Eliminate lobbying as the traitorous act it is. Adopt the Texas Voter ID law federally. Enforce existing citizenship and border laws.Amend the Civil Rights Act to leave the Civil rights portion by itself, and eliminate all of the rest of it, thereby removing those and all other created organizations that are not one of the 3 branches. All these groups make their own rules with congressional oversight. I’ll lay good odds thay the founding fathers would find this process as unconstitutional. Especially eliminate the IRS. An American citizen should never have the government taking personal income away from a citizen. All of these things have turned us into a near democracy as opposed to the original intent of the founding fathers of- a republic. You see, all we have to do to become a true republic is to eliminate all the changes we have made that have led us into becoming a democracy without true representation and with government intervention and power politics. Let’s do it. USA, USA, USA
World Atlas (as of 2024) says: 46.50 % of US is Protestant with the remaining religions (53.50%) scattered over 12 classifications; the largest of which is apparently, Roman Catholic 20.80%) with Muslim at less than 1% (.90%). If we lose our freedom we’ll know where to look. Please vote. It’s only a lost cause if you listen to the minority. Please vote.
Hahaha, if it does not give former presidents immunity for official acts, then he should be ready for whatever he may be convicted for what he has done to our country in the 3 yrs he’s in office since January 2021. Let’s do it! Charge Mush-brain with everything conceivable and see if any sticks!
I actually wonder who is drafting up those laws seeing how the president isn’t fit for office. It has to be the politicians that are using the president as a figure head to pass their socialist agenda. There should be a massive investigation as to who or whom is doing that.
He should have started with term limits for the house and senate as that is where the largest problem lies in more ways than 1.
Term limits in congress first. Career politicians are far easier to corrupt.
no one is above the law but them. Our country has been gone for a while, they are where they want and planned to be. They will “win” no matter what.
Trump scares the hell out of the establishment
So he has decided to screw up something else. Imagine that. Another case of Trump derangement syndrone. Any thing that Trump might do that is on the straight and narrow drives the democrats crazy. They believe that anybody that doesn’t do what they would do in any situation is a criminal and should be prosecuted. Most if not all U.S. Presidents kept or took some of their records when they left office. Oh Biden took them and had not been president but the justice department refused to prosecute him???? We have had a 7 member Supreme Court for 248 years and now he wants to change that because he didn’t get the decision he wanted. Pathetic!
Old Joe Biden holds a degree, a M.B.S. Master of Bull S—t. If he thinks this court packing sleight of hand is going to work, he has another think coming. The American people have seen what 3 1/2 years with Biden have done to their paychecks and quality of life. Open borders, rampant crime, inflation, gas prices, Afghanistan, Hunter, and the list goes on. With Kamala, things will get worse if you can imagine. Joe is George Custer at the Little Bighorn. Can’t wait for him to vacate 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue so they can fumigate the place.
Good luck writing that up as an “Executive Order”, Dictator Biden, because its not going to pass Congress or a 2/3rds ratification in the states. One more reason to NOT VOTE MARXIST… I mean DEMOCRAT! But is there a difference?
SCOTUS has done pretty well all t5hese years. Leave it alone. Kyle L.
Biden is enriching the Ayatollah, Madura, Xi, and Putin. And he is following their example in government. After all, isn’t the “government” smarter than us poor deplorables?
The demcRATS are intent on achieving a”their party system”.I really wonder if AMERICA will survive until november,but four months and another four years,no way,we would be toast,worse than we are now.I can’t believe that anybody with any common sense and love for our country would vote and support the”BOZO’S”that have screwed thinks up like AMERICA is today.
there is never anything the democrat party does that helps america.
he’s not running and has no numerical House support before inauguration day in jan 2025.
The Democrats are so incredibly transparent its actually laughable. Even my democrat neighbors and friends see this for what it is. The only way this could even happen is that the President and both houses were overwhelmingly democrat, then each state has to pass with 3/4 majority? Never happen.
NO
esp the Presidents Immunity issue
Goes both ways
Agree that 18-year term limit should happen & it is my understanding that SCOTUs already has a Code of Ethics, but this is not enforced by law so it leaves each justice to ignore or follow the Code. Congress needs to pass law that the justices either abide by Code of Ethics or pay the price which can be as strong as kicked off the court. Why are we treating SCOTUS as above the law?