The Washington Post published an op-ed under President Joe Biden's byline on July 29 that contained several proposals to "reform the Supreme Court" and prevent the abuse of power by presidents of the United States by completely stripping them of immunity from being prosecuted for crimes committed in the discharge of their duties.
Entitled "My plan to reform the Supreme Court and ensure no president is above the law," the op-ed indicated that some of the proposals are "informed" by the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, organized by Executive Order in April 2021.
President Biden explicitly calls for amending the United States Constitution in order to ban presidential immunity "for crimes committed while in office." Affixing the leaden language often given to legislation devised by the U.S. Congress, the president labels his proposed amendment "the No One is Above the Law Amendment." This would mean endless prosecution of presidents by both sides.
“What that means, by the way, is: full banana republic," Convention of States President Mark Meckler reacted to the announcement on Monday afternoon. "Every president will be prosecuted every time they leave office to the full extent of the law. Why would anyone ever want to be president?"
“I have a challenge for Joe Biden,” Mark continued. “If Joe Biden really believes that no president should have any immunity for anything they do while they’re in office, he could just waive his immunity.”
In addition, the president — who spent 36 years as a member of the United States Senate and mentions his significant role in several hearings for Supreme Court nominees — calls for term limits for members of the United States Supreme Court. In this case, the president in his op-ed does not mention a constitutional amendment, though an amendment would be necessary to alter the language of Article III, which does not establish a set term for justices of the Supreme Court.
The president writes that he supports a system in which Supreme Court justices are limited to terms of 18 years in order that the president can nominate a new justice every two years. The op-ed does not go into further detail.
The third and final proposal in the op-ed concerns the establishment of a code of conduct for the Supreme Court (which the president claims is "mired in a crisis of ethics") that applies to all other federal judges. Biden fails to explain why such a code of conduct is necessary, nor does he answer who would enforce it. Congress? The White House? In either case, it would imperil the Founder's three-branch system of checks and balances.
The president concludes his op-ed with the agreeable phrase, "In America, the people rule." But do these proposals reflect that, and does he really mean it?
“We should take this for what it is and understand, in no uncertain terms, this is an attack on the legitimacy of our institutions of government,” Mark said, arguing that Biden is only attacking the court because he is unhappy about the current conservative majority and wants to bring them under his control.
If Biden and his team truly intend to reform SCOTUS, they will be reminded — as we are every day — just how difficult it is to amend the Constitution. The difference, of course, is that we do not believe a president should be allowed to reshape the Constitution to suit his own agenda simply because it obstructs his goals. To maintain the stability and balance of our federal system and ensure that constitutional reform originates solely from "We the People," sign the Convention of States petition below.
