In a speech from the Oval Office on July 24, President Joe Biden announced that he plans to push for Supreme Court reform during his final stretch as the nation’s commander-in-chief.
President Biden made these remarks after explaining his decision not to seek reelection and outlining his plans for his final six months in office.
“Over the next six months, I’ll be focused on doing my job as president,” he said, highlighting key goals such as boosting economic growth, lowering inflation, tightening gun control, and safeguarding the planet from what he described as a “climate crisis.”
“And I’m going to call for Supreme Court reform because this is critical to our democracy, Supreme Court reform,” Biden stated.
In recent weeks, media speculation has suggested that President Biden is considering introducing an enforceable ethics code for Supreme Court justices and ending lifetime appointments to the high court.
During a press briefing on July 24, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked if President Biden remains “committed” to pushing Supreme Court reform during his final months in office.
“The president believes that when you hold a high office, you should be held by a certain ethics and transparency,” she said. “That’s something that the president believes, and so he certainly will continue to do everything that he can. I don’t have any policy announcements to make at this moment.”
While President Biden has resisted pressure from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party to impose term limits on Supreme Court justices or pack the high court, he did establish a commission to explore potential Supreme Court reforms, including ending lifetime appointments. However, the 34-member commission did not endorse expanding the court and remained neutral on the issue of term limits.
Darry Allen Sragow, a Democratic political consultant, told Reuters he was surprised that President Biden mentioned Supreme Court reform in his Oval Office speech.
“In a sense, that came out of nowhere, he didn’t have to put that in the speech, but the fact that he mentioned that suggested to me that in his mind, for the future of the country, this has become a high priority and what he is presumably referring to is the recent decisions coming out of a Supreme Court that is dominated by very conservative justices,” Mr. Sragow stated.
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