Joe Biden unveils long-shot plan to overhaul US Supreme Court as he seeks to cement legacy
- US president assails the US Supreme Court for ‘extremism’ as he calls for new binding ethics rules and term limits for justices
Joe Biden unveiled plans for sweeping US Supreme Court reforms, as he seeks to cement his legacy in the twilight of his presidency despite Republicans branding the proposals dead on arrival.
Stung by shock rulings on abortion and other topics and by a series of scandals involving the conservative-dominated court, Biden called for 18-year term limits for justices and an enforceable ethics code.
“Extremism is undermining public confidence in the court’s decisions,” Biden said in a speech on Monday outlining the “bold” plans at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library in Austin, Texas.
Making his first speech on the road since dropping out of the 2024 election, Biden also proposed a constitutional amendment to reverse the Supreme Court’s recent ruling backing Donald Trump’s claims of presidential immunity.
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“There are no kings in America,” he said at the library – which celebrates the legacy of Johnson, or LBJ, the last incumbent US president not to seek a second term back in 1968.