US
President
Joe
Biden
speaks
on
his
economic
policies
at
the
Wisconsin
Black
Chamber
of
Commerce
in
Milwaukee,
Wisconsin,
on
Dec.
20,
2023.
Mandel
Ngan
|
AFP
|
Getty
Images
President
Joe
Biden
is
preparing
to
endorse
significant
proposals
to
reform
the Supreme
Court and
notified
some members
of
Congress about
his
intentions
last
weekend,
three
sources
familiar
with
the
plans
said
Tuesday.
The
proposals
under
serious
consideration
include
legislation
to
establish
term
limits
for
justices
and
establishing
an
updated
code
of
ethics
that
would
be
binding
and
enforceable,
a
source
said.
The
policies,
which
haven’t
been
finalized,
may
be
rolled
out
in
the
coming
weeks,
which
would
be
a
new
approach
for
a
president
who
has
long
been
skeptical
of
restructuring
the
Supreme
Court.
A
White
House
spokesperson
declined
to
comment.
Biden
told
lawmakers
in
the
Congressional
Progressive
Caucus
during
a
virtual
meeting
Saturday
that
he
had
been
consulting
constitutional
scholars
on
the
matter
for
more
than
a
month,
according
to
a
person
familiar
with
the
discussion.
“I’m
going
to
need
your
help
to
and
advice
on
how
we
should
be
doing
what
I’m
going
to
be
doing
there.
Want
to
make
sure
we
have
a
closer
working
relationship,
because
we’re
in
this
together,”
Biden
told
the
lawmakers,
though
he
didn’t
get
into
specific
policy
substance,
the
source
said.
The
Washington
Post first
reported Biden’s
plans.
Two
other
sources
told
NBC
News
that
Biden
told
the
lawmakers
he
will
come
out
for
big
reforms,
without
giving
them
details,
but
that
members
on
the
call
understood
him
to
be
referring
to
term
limits
and
ethics
rules. The
call
took
place
Saturday
before
the
assassination
attempt
on
former
President
Donald
Trump
at
a
Pennsylvania
rally.
“Look,
it’s
not,
it’s
not
hyperbole
to
suggest
Trump
is
literally
an existential threat,
an existential threat to
the
very
constitution
of
democracy
we,
we
say
we
care
about.
And
I mean
if
this
guy
wins,
he’s
not,
and
now,
especially
with
that
Supreme
Court
giving
him
the
kind
of
breadth
of
—
I
don’t
need
to
get
into
the
Supreme
Court
right
now
—
anyway,
but
I
need
your
help,”
Biden
said,
according
to
a
source
who
provided
this
excerpt.
Changing
the
structure
of
the
Supreme
Court
would
require
Congress
to
make
a
new
law.
That’s
extremely
unlikely
while
Republicans
control
the
House,
as
the
party
is
pleased
with
the
6-3
conservative
majority
it
has
built
on
the
high
court.
But
the
proposals
could
become
a
useful
messaging
device
for
Biden
on
the
campaign
trail.
And
if
Democrats
sweep
the
election,
they
may
have
a
fighting
chance
of
passing.
Democrats
have
rallied
voters
against
the
Supreme
Court,
citing
unpopular
rulings
like
the
elimination
of
federal
abortion
rights
and
a
spate
of
recent
reports
detailing
apparent
ethical
lapses
among
some
of
the
justices.
Last
month,
Senate
Democrats
sought
to
pass
Supreme
Court
ethics
legislation
but ran
into
Republican
opposition.
In
the
House,
Reps.
Ro
Khanna,
D-Calif.,
and
Don
Beyer,
D-Va.,
have introduced
legislation that
would
impose
18-year
term
limits
for
future
justices,
ultimately
creating
vacancies to
fill
during
every
four-year
presidential
term
and
preventing
retirements
for
partisan
reasons.
Khanna
praised
Biden
for
warming
up
to
the
idea,
noting
that
he
first
introduced
term
limits
legislation
in
2020.
“Since
then,
we
have
been
advocating
for
the
president
to
champion
this
reform,”
Khanna
told
NBC
News
on
Tuesday.
“It
is
a
big
step
for
him
to
now
call
for
commonsense
term
limits
for
the
court
and
a
judicial
code
of
ethics.”
