WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is preparing to approve a major proposal to reform the Supreme Court, signaling his intentions to some lawmakers over the weekend, three people familiar with the plans said Tuesday.
Proposals under serious consideration, according to people familiar with the matter, include legislation that would impose term limits on judges and a binding, enforceable, modern ethics code. The policies, which have not yet been finalized, could be announced in the coming weeks and would mark a new approach for a president who has long been skeptical of reshaping the Supreme Court.
A White House spokesman declined to comment.
Biden told members of his Progressive Caucus during an online meeting on Saturday that he has been consulting constitutional scholars on the issue for more than a month, according to a person familiar with the matter.
“I need your help and your advice on how to proceed with what I’m trying to do there. We’re in the same situation and I want to work closer together,” Biden told lawmakers, but did not offer any policy specifics, the people said.
The Washington Post first reported Biden’s plan.
Two other sources told NBC News that Biden assured lawmakers he would tackle big reforms but gave no details, but lawmakers on the call said they understood him to be referring to term limits and ethics rules. The call took place on Saturday, just before former President Donald Trump was assassinated at a rally in Pennsylvania.
“Look, it’s not an exaggeration to say Trump is literally an existential threat. An existential threat to the very constitution of our democracy that we hold dear. And if this guy wins, he’s not an existential threat. I don’t need to be on the Supreme Court, especially now with the Supreme Court giving him broad powers, but I need your help anyway,” Biden said, according to a source who provided the excerpt.
Changing the Supreme Court’s structure would require Congress to enact new legislation, which seems highly unlikely since Republicans control the House and are content with the 6-3 conservative majority they’ve built on the Supreme Court.
But the proposal could be a useful messaging tool for Biden on the campaign trail — and could pass if Democrats win a sweep of the election. Democrats have been urging voters to turn against the Supreme Court, citing unpopular decisions such as the stripping away of federal abortion rights and a series of recent reports detailing the ethical failings of some of its justices.
Last month, Senate Democrats tried to pass a Supreme Court ethics bill but faced Republican opposition, and in the House, Reps. Ro Khanna of California and Don Beyer of Virginia have introduced legislation that would impose 18-year term limits on future justices, ultimately creating vacancies. It creates positions that must be filled during the president’s four-year term, preventing retirements for partisan reasons.
Khanna praised Biden for being open to the idea, noting that he first introduced term limits legislation in 2020.
“We’ve been advocating for the president to push for this reform ever since,” Khanna told NBC News on Tuesday. “It’s a big step for the president to now call for commonsense Supreme Court term limits and judicial ethics rules.”
