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Biden Considering Expanding the Supreme Court is Long Overdue
The Constitution states federal judges shall enjoy lifetime appointments “during good behavior.” They, like all government officials, are subjected to the impeachment process, as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez demonstrated when she introduced articles of impeachment last week against Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas.
But impeachment of justices is a high bar to achieve. In our history, 15 judges have been impeached. Of those, eight were convicted in the Senate and removed; three resigned before their impeachment processes completed; four were acquitted, one of which, Samuel Chase, was the only Supreme Court Justice to ever face impeachment.
Impeachment is a serious and important measure in place to hold individuals’ behavior to account. It does not address systemic problems, however. Therefore, after a slew of alarmingly dystopic decisions from the almighty un-elected black-robed monarchs on the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS), President Joe Biden seeks to do something progressive and long overdue: impose term limits and enforce a new ethics code.
President Biden is finalizing plans to endorse major changes to the Supreme Court in the coming weeks, including proposals for legislation to establish term limits for the justices and an enforceable ethics code, according to two people briefed on the plans.
He is also weighing whether to call for a constitutional amendment to eliminate broad immunity for presidents and other constitutional officeholders, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.
According to a recent poll from Data for Progress, almost 75% of cross-party voters support ending lifetime SCOTUS appointments : 78 percent among Democrats, 59 percent among independents, and 51 percent among republicans.
A 2022 Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey found 67 percent of Americans support term limits, including 82 percent of among Democrats and 57 percent of republicans.
Last September, House Democrats introduced “the Supreme Court Tenure Establishment and Retirement Modernization” (TERM) Act requiring 18-year limits.
