WASHINGTON, July 29 (Reuters) – President Joe Biden on Monday proposed sweeping changes to the U.S. Supreme Court, including term limits and a binding code of conduct for its nine justices, but a deeply divided Congress means the proposals have little chance of enactment.
Biden called for the revamp, as well a constitutional amendment to eliminate broad presidential immunity recognized in a July 1 Supreme Court ruling involving former President Donald Trump, in an opinion piece published in the Washington Post. Biden is due to deliver a speech at the presidential library of former President Lyndon B. Johnson in Austin, Texas, later in the day.
“This nation was founded on a simple yet profound principle: No one is above the law. Not the president of the United States. Not a justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. No one,” Biden wrote in the opinion piece.
Biden called on Congress to pass binding, enforceable rules that require the 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. He also urged the adoption of an 18-year term limit for the justices, who currently serve life tenures.
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