- House Speaker Mike Johnson said Biden’s Supreme Court proposal was “dead on arrival.”
- Biden’s plan includes term limits, a binding code of conduct, and no immunity for ex-presidents.
- But to get the changes through, Biden would need full Democratic control — or help from Republicans.
President Joe Biden’s pitch to rein in the Supreme Court is off to a rough start.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has already sworn to fight the Biden administration’s proposal to overhaul the Supreme Court, calling it “dead on arrival.”
Biden’s proposal, announced in a White House press release on Monday, calls on Congress to make three major changes to the high court: setting up 18-year term limits for all justices, creating a binding code of conduct for those justices, and approving a constitutional amendment that explicitly says former presidents aren’t immune from prosecution for crimes committed while in office.
Despite the push from Biden for changes to the court, Johnson threw cold water on the idea immediately.
“President Biden’s proposal to radically overhaul the U.S. Supreme Court would tilt the balance of power and erode not only the rule of law, but the American people’s faith in our system of justice,” Johnson wrote Monday on X.
He added: “It is telling that Democrats want to change the system that has guided our nation since its founding simply because they disagree with some of the Court’s recent decisions. This dangerous gambit of the Biden-Harris Administration is dead on arrival in the House.”