On Monday, President Biden proposed two reforms to the Supreme Court-term limits for justices and a binding ethics code-along with a constitutional amendment to its recent presidential-immunity decision.
There's a problem with Biden trying to use the commission to give his proposals legitimacy.
Imposing term limits by statute would be unconstitutional, says White, a legal scholar for the American Enterprise Institute who was one of 34 experts who delivered a report on Supreme Court reforms to Biden in 2021.
"The Constitution explicitly guarantees that justices hold their office in good behavior, which means until impeachment or death or retirement, that's always been understood as life tenure," he explains.
Trying to get around this by "Slicing and dicing the Supreme Court into subgroups"-granting justices 18 years of "Active service," after which they no longer participate in their ordinary duties-"Opens the door to Congress playing total mischief with the court," warns White.
Biden is yet to explain the details of his proposals, but any legislation he brings to Congress is likely to be dead on arrival.
In other words, there's nothing wrong with Biden's proposals-beyond, you know, being unconstitutional.
https://www.thefp.com/p/president-biden-supreme-court-reforms-july-2024
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