Washington: US President Joe Biden has announced a plan to reform the Supreme Court, saying that he looked forward to working with Congress to prevent the abuse of presidential power and “restore faith” in the nation’s highest court. “President Biden believes that no one — neither the President nor the Supreme Court — is above the law,” the White House said in a fact sheet.
In the face of this “crisis of confidence” in America’s democratic institutions, Biden was calling for three reforms to “restore trust and accountability”: No immunity for crimes a former president committed in office; Term limits for Supreme Court justices; Binding code of conduct for the Supreme Court, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the fact sheet.
Biden called for a constitutional amendment that makes clear no president is above the law or immune from prosecution for crimes committed while in office.
This came in response to the court’s July 1 ruling, which determined that presidents cannot be prosecuted for “official acts” performed while in office, a decision related to a case involving former President Donald Trump, who was indicted by a federal grand jury for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Biden supported a system in which the president would appoint a Justice every two years to spend 18 years in active service on the Supreme Court. Currently, Supreme Court Justices serve lifetime appointments on the court.
During his tenure, Trump nominated three conservative justices, shifting the balance of the Supreme Court from a 5-4 to a 6-3 conservative majority, thereby strengthening the conservative advantage. Biden has become more vocal in his criticism of the Supreme Court and its decisions. “In recent years, the Supreme Court has overturned long-established legal precedents protecting fundamental rights. This Court has gutted civil rights protections, taken away a woman’s right to choose, and now granted Presidents broad immunity from prosecution for crimes they commit in office,” the White House said. (IANS)
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